Source : BRICS NEWS
RIYADH, October 26, 2026 – Saudi Arabia has activated its emergency warning system in the capital Riyadh over a potential danger, BRICS News reported early on Monday, the latest in a string of alerts as attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement on the kingdom continue.
BRICS News said in a post on X, marked “JUST IN”, that Saudi Arabia had activated the emergency warning system in Riyadh “over potential danger”. The post was published at 8.46am Malaysia time (3.46am in Riyadh). It gave no details of the nature of the threat, and there was no immediate official word on whether any missile or drone had been intercepted.
https://x.com/BRICSinfo/status/2114519079025324475
Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Civil Defence issues such alerts to mobile phones through the National Early Warning Platform for Emergencies. In previous alerts, it has told residents who receive a warning to remain calm, move immediately to the nearest safe place inside a building or to an interior room away from windows, and stay there until the danger has passed. People outdoors have been told to enter the nearest building or take cover behind a solid barrier, and drivers have been advised to pull over away from bridges, tunnels and tall buildings.
The authority has also urged the public to avoid gathering and filming, and to rely only on official sources for information. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior has warned that recording, publishing or circulating footage or information about missile and drone interceptions, or the places where debris falls, could lead to legal action.
Monday’s alert follows several days of similar warnings. On Sunday, October 25, Civil Defence issued an alert for Riyadh before announcing minutes later that the danger had passed, Middle East Eye and the Qatar News Agency reported. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said a ballistic missile and two drones launched towards the Riyadh region had been intercepted and destroyed, according to Al Arabiya.
Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki later said that 10 ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis towards southern Saudi Arabia, and a cruise missile aimed at Khamis Mushait, had also been intercepted. Civil Defence said debris from two intercepted missiles injured two people and damaged three residential buildings and seven vehicles in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah, Saudi newspaper Al Bilad reported.
A day earlier, on October 24, alerts were sent before dawn to residents of Riyadh, Najran and Wadi Al-Dawasir, and the coalition confirmed that a ballistic missile aimed at the capital had been intercepted. Later that morning, warnings were extended to Jeddah, Taif, Yanbu and the wider Makkah region, according to official statements compiled by The Saudi Times.
The alerts come as fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthis has intensified, shattering a truce that had largely held since 2022. The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen including the capital Sanaa, have claimed attacks on targets across the kingdom, including Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and facilities belonging to state oil company Saudi Aramco.
King Khalid International Airport halted operations on October 10 after an attack claimed by the Houthis killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade, The Daily Star reported. The airport partially resumed operations on Sunday, but Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said it remained a “military target” and warned airlines, staff and travellers against using it.
The conflict has become an increasingly destabilising front in the wider regional war involving Iran, turning Saudi Arabia into a pressure point and raising concerns over the security of Gulf energy supplies and air travel. Further details on Monday’s alert in Riyadh were not immediately available.
Source: BRICS News on X, Saudi Civil Defence, Middle East Eye, Qatar News Agency, Al Arabiya, Al Bilad, The Saudi Times and The Daily Star.
About The Author
