Source : BRICS NEWS
Saudi Arabia has intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthis towards the capital, Riyadh, according to a post by BRICS News on X on Tuesday, October 20, the latest in a string of Houthi attacks on the kingdom this month.
The brief “just in” post said Saudi forces had intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile launched at Riyadh. It did not say whether the interception caused any damage or casualties.
The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen confirmed the interception. Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said in a post on X that the kingdom “intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh”, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
Before the announcement, the Saudi Civil Defence had issued an alert for the capital. “A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh City to alert for a potential danger,” it said in a statement on X, according to Arab News. The newspaper said the Civil Defence later lifted the security alert. No details of debris or injuries had been reported by Saudi authorities at the time of writing.
Earlier on Tuesday, BRICS News reported that the Houthis had claimed attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Shaybah oil field and on airports in Riyadh and Abha. Those claims could not be independently verified.
The interception follows the deadliest wave of attacks on the kingdom in more than a decade. Between October 6 and October 12, Houthi ballistic missiles and drones struck airports in Riyadh, Abha and Dammam, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 370, officials said, according to ABC News. On October 8, an attack on King Khalid International Airport destroyed a Saudia Airbus A320 and killed three Saudi citizens, including a pilot.
The worst single strike came on October 10, when a missile hit the airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights. Twelve people were killed and more than 300 injured, the Associated Press reported, and the death toll later rose to 13. Al-Maliki described that attack as a “full-fledged war crime”. The Associated Press later reported that Saudi Arabia had opened an investigation into how its air defences failed to stop the barrage, with officials saying the Houthis first fired drones to clear the way for a mix of cruise and ballistic missiles.
The Houthis have warned airlines and passengers against using Saudi airports and airspace, with the exception of the airports of Makkah and Madinah, the BBC reported. The renewed fighting between the Iran-backed group and Saudi Arabia was reignited after a Saudi strike on Sanaa International Airport on July 13, 2026, after which the Houthis ended the UN-brokered truce that had held since 2022.
The attacks have drawn wide international condemnation. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply shocked” by the strikes on Riyadh airport, while UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg called the attacks on civilian airports “a grave escalation”. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was “ready to provide any assistance to help initiate a dialogue” between its Houthi allies and Saudi Arabia.
Regional diplomacy has also intensified. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan held separate phone calls on Monday, October 19, with the UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Turkey’s Hakan Fidan, in which the ministers condemned the continued Houthi attacks on civilian areas in the kingdom, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. In Cairo, Egypt’s parliament adjourned until October 26 its debate on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s request for authorisation to provide military support to Saudi Arabia, after Egypt’s National Defence Council declared “absolute alignment and complete solidarity” with the kingdom.
Source: BRICS News on X.
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