Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport was engulfed in smoke and experienced audible booms on Saturday, with suspicions pointing to a Houthi aerial strike. Saudi civil defence issued and later lifted alerts for potential aerial attacks in the capital region. This incident is part of an ongoing series of Houthi attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, which have raised concerns about global oil supplies and vital shipping routes. The UN Security Council has strongly condemned these actions and the Houthi military escalation in Yemen.

Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport was engulfed in smoke and experienced audible booms on Saturday, with suspicions pointing to a Houthi aerial strike. Saudi civil defence issued and later lifted alerts for potential aerial attacks in the capital region. This incident is part of an ongoing series of Houthi attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, which have raised concerns about global oil supplies and vital shipping routes. The UN Security Council has strongly condemned these actions and the Houthi military escalation in Yemen.

Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport was engulfed in smoke and experienced audible booms on Saturday, with suspicions pointing to a Houthi aerial strike. Saudi civil defence issued and later lifted alerts for potential aerial attacks in the capital region. This incident is part of an ongoing series of Houthi attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, which have raised concerns about global oil supplies and vital shipping routes. The UN Security Council has strongly condemned these actions and the Houthi military escalation in Yemen.

Another Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia is believed to be the cause after large plumes of smoke were confirmed near the King Khalid International Airport  -- Riyadh's main airport on Saturday. According to Western media reports, suspicions of Houthi strikes were strengthened after booms were heard and Saudi Arabia sent alerts overnight warning of potential danger around the capital.

Prominent news agency Reuters released video and photographs of a huge pillar of black smoke rising from the Riyadh airport premises. These visuals showed the airport highway, main terminal building, and other facilities in the foreground.

At one point in the video, flames were visible rising from behind what appeared to be fuel tanks. There was no immediate comment from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding the incident, the news agency added. THE WEEK couldn't independently verify the authenticity of these visuals. 

French news agency AFP claimed at least two residents in the Saudi capital vouched to have seen black smoke and flames rising from an area near the international airport on Saturday.

Saudi civil defence sent alerts by phone overnight for potential danger from aerial attacks in Riyadh and the city of Al-Kharj, east of the capital, before issuing an all-clear on Saturday morning. A Reuters journalist in Riyadh's Olaya area heard booms before the all-clear was sent. Although some alerts had been issued in Riyadh this year after the start of the US–Iran war, these were the first since the escalation began with the Houthis in July.

The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks against Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting Saudi vessels in the Red Sea. The attacks have targeted Saudi cities, energy infrastructure, and shipping, creating new threats to global oil supplies and putting at risk the main alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded.

The UN Security Council in a statement on Friday "condemned in the strongest terms continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children." In the statement, the Security Council also condemned the "Houthi military escalation in Yemen".

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