The General Authority of Civil Aviation said that Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh were targeted in two separate attacks on October 6 and 7, that three people were killed and 36 injured with material damage, without naming the perpetrator (Al Jazeera, Gulf News, Arab News, Siasat). In Abha two women were killed and 28 injured, and in Riyadh a Sudanese resident was killed and eight injured, among them a Pakistani. The Houthis claimed responsibility (Yahya Saree). The coalition said it destroyed 82 military targets in Saada, Hodeidah, al-Jawf and Marib, among them 11 ballistic missile storage facilities, and vowed that attacks on civilian sites would not go unpunished (Kuwait Times, Malay Mail, Arab News).
Targeting two civilian airports and killing people of several nationalities brings the war into everyday infrastructure, puts pressure on aviation, travel and insurance, and raises the likelihood of a wider response.
If you are travelling through Riyadh or Abha airports, follow your flights through the carriers and official Saudi authorities, and avoid circulating unverified clips.
The Houthis see their attacks as a response to coalition raids, according to what their spokesman said earlier.
The coalition and Saudi Arabia see the targeting of civilian facilities as a crime that will not go unpunished.
The turning point here is that the toll includes civilian deaths inside Saudi Arabia. The yardsticks in the coming days: whether flights continue, whether a wider Saudi or coalition response follows, and what is announced about the Pakistani and Turkish forces.
Al Jazeera, Gulf News, Arab News, Siasat, Kuwait Times, Malay Mail (October 7, 2026)
Three dead and 36 injured in Houthi attacks on Abha and Riyadh airports; coalition says it destroyed 82 targets
The General Authority of Civil Aviation said the two airports were targeted on October 6 and 7 and that material damage occurred. The Houthis claimed responsibility, and the coalition said it destroyed 82 military targets in four Yemeni governorates.
The General Authority of Civil Aviation said on Wednesday, October 7, that Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh were targeted in two separate attacks on October 6 and 7, which left three dead, 36 injured and material damage it did not detail, according to Al Jazeera, Gulf News, Arab News and Siasat. The Authority’s statement did not name the party responsible.
According to the same figures, two women, one Moroccan and one Algerian, were killed in Abha and 28 people were injured, among them Saudis and residents from Bangladesh and the Philippines. In Riyadh a Sudanese resident was killed and eight were injured: five Saudis, two Egyptian residents and one Pakistani resident. The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group used drones against King Khalid International Airport, and ballistic missiles and drones against Abha airport.
The Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed 82 Houthi military targets in Saada, Hodeidah, al-Jawf and Marib, among them 11 ballistic missile storage facilities in the mountains of Saada, command-and-control centres and weapons depots, according to Kuwait Times and Malay Mail. The coalition vowed that attacks on civilian sites would not go unpunished, according to Arab News. Al Jazeera reported that in the early hours of Thursday the Houthis announced a new missile strike on Riyadh airport and a “final warning” to airlines, which the Saudi authorities did not confirm.
In DailyDrop’s reading, this is a civilian death toll inside Saudi Arabia, whereas the tolls we found before were injuries. Today, Thursday, we are following: air traffic and the Houthi warnings to airlines, details of the deployment of Pakistani and Turkish forces, and any further coalition response.