Large black smoke rises from the fuel storage area at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 19, 2026.
Stringer | Reuters
Yemen’s Houthis said they had attacked “sensitive” positions in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday with missiles and drones, hours after flames and heavy smoke were seen near the capital’s main airport.
Saudi Arabia had issued alerts overnight warning of potential danger around Riyadh as attacks by the Houthis intensified in the kingdom.
Later that day, U.S. embassies in Jerusalem, Oman, and Iraq issued alerts for U.S. personnel in the Middle East, citing rising tensions and the potential for unexpected escalation.
Video and photos from Reuters showed huge plumes of black smoke rising, with facilities including the airport expressway and the main terminal building in the foreground. At one point in the video, flames could be seen coming from behind what appeared to be a fuel tank.
The Houthis did not say what they targeted in Riyadh, but said they also attacked Aramco facilities in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, a key hub for Saudi oil exports.
The Houthis said the operation was carried out in response to attacks in Yemen’s capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis said its air defense forces destroyed a missile fired by the Yemeni group toward Riyadh early Saturday.
The coalition also said in a statement that it had thwarted attacks targeting civilians in Saudi cities including Bish and Farasan in the southwest, Taif in the west and Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. It has not been disclosed whether there was any damage.
Saudi Arabia’s civil defense authorities issued a telephone alert overnight about possible airstrikes on Riyadh and the city of al-Khalj, east of the capital, before announcing a full lift on Saturday morning. A Reuters reporter in Riyadh’s Olaya district heard a thud before the general lifting was announced.
Riyadh had been on several alerts since the start of the war between the US and Iran this year, but this was the first since the escalation with the Houthis began in July.
Houthi warning
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s most populous region and much of the north, have launched attacks against Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade of Riyadh in July, targeting Saudi ships in the Red Sea.
The attack targeted Saudi cities, energy infrastructure and shipping, posing a new threat to global oil supplies and endangering a key alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports, where traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saudi Arabia may have military needs due to the ongoing Houthi attacks, and Turkey is ready to assist under the trilateral defense pact, which also includes Pakistan.
It is unclear what kind of assistance Turkey will provide, but Fidan said in an interview with broadcaster NTV that Saudi Arabia’s needs could include “some technical issues.”
The trilateral agreement signed last month stipulates that an armed attack on any of the three countries is considered an attack on all three countries.
On Friday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Salih said the group had thwarted an unspecified “criminal attempt” in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, condemning Saudi Arabia and vowing to respond.
The Iran-aligned group, which seized control of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast in a lightning advance this month, said the Saudi air force had carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Yemen in recent days.
The fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has developed as a new theater of conflict in a broader war that began with the US and Israeli attack on Iran in late February. US President Donald Trump has rejected Saudi Arabia’s request for direct US military intervention against the Houthis.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in an Al Jazeera interview aired on Saturday that Iran wants an end to the war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, adding that he believes Yemenis also want reconciliation with Saudi Arabia.
Rezaei also said that Iran had conveyed conditions to the mediator, including “an end to the war on all fronts,” in order to restart stalled negotiations with the United States.
Rezaei said talks are continuing with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan, and the Iranian government is waiting for President Trump’s response.
The UN Security Council “condemned in the strongest terms the continued attacks by the Houthis against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks that have affected civilian and energy infrastructure and injured civilians, including women and children,” the UN Security Council said in a statement on Friday.
The Security Council also condemned “the Houthi military escalation in Yemen” in a statement.
— CNBC contributed to this report.
