A Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed at least 12 people and wounded 309 others, according to Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority, as cited by Sky TG24. The strike on the Saudi capital's main airport was reported on Saturday, 10 October 2026.
The Saudi-led military coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized government said it had launched what it described as a large-scale operation against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. The coalition also said it destroyed more than 100 military targets.
The New York Times, cited in the same reporting, put the death toll at no fewer than 12 and the number of wounded at a minimum of 50, figures that differ from the casualty count released by Saudi aviation officials.
Why it matters
The assault on Riyadh's principal airport marks a direct hit on civilian aviation infrastructure in the Saudi capital and forced the facility to close, according to the reporting. Its closure reshapes travel across the kingdom: King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in the eastern oil-producing region, and Jeddah's airport in the west were named as the alternatives now handling traffic that would normally pass through Riyadh.
The attack also raises the prospect of a wider confrontation. The Saudi-led coalition had already announced its large-scale operation against the Houthis before the Riyadh strike was reported, and the United States has signaled it may join the Saudi response.
A second projectile near Dammam
Hours after the deadly strike on Riyadh, the Saudi-led coalition said a projectile fell near Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia. The coalition's spokesman announced the incident in a post on X, describing it as a projectile landing in the vicinity of King Fahd International Airport.
Dammam sits in the kingdom's oil-producing east and, together with Jeddah, serves as a fallback for flights diverted from Riyadh. The coalition did not say in the cited reporting whether the Dammam projectile caused casualties or damage.
Conflicting casualty figures and early identifications
The casualty numbers reported so far do not fully align. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority reported at least 12 dead and 309 wounded. The New York Times reported at least 12 dead and at least 50 wounded. A medical source at a hospital in the Saudi capital told reporters there were at least two dead, and identified one of the victims as an Egyptian flight attendant working for a Saudi airline and the other as a Palestinian holding Egyptian travel documents. A second source confirmed the deaths and the nationalities of those two victims, according to the reporting.
The gap between the aviation authority's figure of 309 wounded and the New York Times figure of at least 50 has not been explained in the material available.
Trump comments on Iran and the US role
President Donald Trump said the United States reserves the right to join Saudi Arabia in responding to the attacks, according to the reporting. Speaking to journalists as he left the White House, Trump expressed confidence about the course of the war with Iran.
"Their country is falling apart miserably. Their army has been defeated. They no longer have a navy. They no longer have an air force. They have 300% inflation, Iran is in really bad shape," Trump said, as quoted in the reporting.
The comments came against the backdrop of a wider conflict that has spread across the Middle East. The reporting also noted that the Pentagon has revised upward its count of American service members killed in operations against Iran, bringing the official total to 21, two more than previously announced. The Washington Post reported the revision, after having reported last month, citing six US officials, discrepancies between the actual number of fatalities and figures published by the Department of Defense. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had called the newspaper's investigation "a total lie," according to the reporting.
The updated Pentagon database also lists 865 American service members wounded in operations against Tehran, the reporting said. The two additions to the death toll are Major Sorffly Davius, 46, an Army National Guard member who died in Kuwait on 6 March, and a Navy service member whose identity was not released, who died by suicide in September. Both deaths are classified as not related to combat. The Pentagon also acknowledged the death of another soldier, Sergeant Devin A. Seibel, 26, who died in May during an exercise in Iraq, while stating that the case is not connected to operations against Iran.
Regional and diplomatic fallout
The reporting also touched on several other developments across the region and beyond. In the United Arab Emirates, Hammam Al-Hammami, the Omani national who attempted to hijack a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, admitted his plan during questioning by Emirati investigators. Israeli authorities are trying to determine whether he acted alone or had accomplices.
In Europe, a vote drew sharp criticism from Jewish organizations, the British government and Israel. Tel Aviv called the text "antisemitic" and barred Green Party leader Zack Polanski from entering the country.
In Gaza, freelance Palestinian photographer Mahmoud Abu Hamda won the Bayeux-Calvados Award for war correspondents in the photography category. He received both the jury's main trophy and the audience award for his reportage titled "What the war leaves behind it." Abu Hamda could not attend the ceremony in Normandy in person and sent a video message thanking the jury, which was chaired by veteran BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet. The Washington Post, NPR and CNN took the top prizes in the press, radio and television categories for reporting from Ukraine, Gaza and the West Bank respectively.
The reporting also noted that the Italian public has faced rising prices across many sectors in recent months, following the start of the war with Iran and the spread of the conflict in the Middle East, with autumn offering little relief. The consumer group Codacons, the small business association Cna and the artisans' association Cgia compiled the figures.
What to watch
Attention now turns to whether the United States formally joins the Saudi response, how the coalition's large-scale operation against the Houthis unfolds, and when Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport reopens.
