Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday, October 26, that they had attacked Saudi Arabia’s East-West crude oil pumping stations and Riyadh airport, Reuters reported. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the claim.
The claim comes days after Saudi authorities partially reopened Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, following a halt that began on October 10.
A claim without Saudi confirmation
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said earlier that it had destroyed two ballistic missile launchers in the capital, Sanaa, including one used to fire a missile towards Riyadh that the coalition said it had intercepted.
The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi airports, ports and oil installations, Reuters reported, turning Saudi Arabia, a United States ally, into a pressure point in the wider war.
Flights nearly wiped out
Aviation data showed the scale of the disruption. About 86% of scheduled flights at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport — 4,071 out of 4,736 — were cancelled between October 8 and October 25, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, cited by Reuters.
Saudi authorities partially reopened the airport on Sunday after the halt that had started on October 10. Domestic flights resumed from Terminal 1, while national carriers were allowed to operate international services from Terminal 2, Reuters reported.
The Houthis said they had attacked Riyadh’s airport again on Monday, calling it a “military target.”
Riyadh’s airport, the kingdom’s second-busiest after Jeddah, has been struck repeatedly, Reuters reported, including an attack on October 10 that killed 13 people, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.
The attacks have prompted international airlines to suspend services to the Saudi capital into November, while Delta Air Lines has postponed the launch of its Riyadh route until next year, Reuters reported.
The disruption has forced several events in Riyadh to be cancelled or postponed, including Saudi Arabia’s marquee investment conference, as flight cancellations hamper travel to and across the kingdom.
Beyond the capital, more than 7,800 flights, or 45% of all scheduled departures from Saudi airports, were cancelled between October 8 and October 25, according to Cirium. The peak came on October 12, when cancellations exceeded 60% of scheduled flights nationwide. Dammam saw 42% of flights cancelled and Abha 46.7%, while in Najran, near the Yemeni border, all flights were cancelled.
This is a developing story. The Houthi claim about Monday’s pumping-station and airport attacks has not been confirmed by Saudi authorities.
Sources: Reuters, “Houthis say they attacked East-West oil pumping stations; No Saudi confirmation,” October 26, 2026; Reuters, “How Houthi attacks have grounded flights across Saudi Arabia,” October 26, 2026.
