Ballistic missile intercepted over Riyadh as Houthi attacks on Saudi airports and oil facilities escalate

Saudi air defenses early on Saturday, 24 October, intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Yemen toward the capital Riyadh, minutes after civil defense sirens were sounded via the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh, Najran and Wadi Al-Dawasir, and after two explosions were heard in the capital's sky.

Missile toward Riyadh and a drone in the Eastern Province

The official spokesperson for the Coalition forces, Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, said in two posts on X that air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward Riyadh, and that a drone had been intercepted and destroyed earlier over the Eastern Province. The statement did not provide details on the launch site or any damage.

Minutes after the warning, the Civil Defense announced that the danger had passed for Riyadh, Najran and Wadi Al-Dawasir, urging residents to continue following safety instructions and to avoid gathering and filming. It warned that photographing missile and drone interception sites or publishing information about them exposes the publisher to legal accountability.

A month of strikes on airports

Today's interception comes after weeks of successive cross-border attacks, most notably the strike that hit Terminals 3 and 4 of the domestic departures complex at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on 10 October. According to the General Authority of Civil Aviation, that attack killed 12 people and injured more than 300; the toll later rose to 13 dead, making it the deadliest attack in the kingdom in years. The airport was hit again the following day, leading to its closure before it was partially reopened for limited operations.

The attacks have not been limited to the capital: King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and the Shaybah oil field, operated by Aramco, were targeted on Wednesday, 21 October, resulting in fatalities.

Aramco evacuates its Dhahran headquarters

As an indicator of the scale of risks facing energy infrastructure, Aramco on Thursday, 22 October asked its employees to evacuate its main headquarters in Dhahran and to work remotely until further notice—its first such measure since the outbreak of the war with Iran—after an earlier attack this month struck one of the complex's towers and caused a fire that spread across multiple floors. The headquarters houses an operations center that oversees onshore and offshore fields, refineries, export terminals and thousands of kilometres of pipelines for the world’s largest oil company.

Aviation pays the price

The escalation has had a direct effect on travel: Etihad extended cancellations of its flights between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah until 5 November, Flydubai suspended its flights to Riyadh, Dammam and Abha until 29 October, and Emirates cancelled its flights to Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah, while other carriers also suspended services to the kingdom.

Saudi economy by the numbers

These developments come two days after the International Monetary Fund's Regional Economic Outlook report on 22 October, which forecast a 3.3 percent contraction in the Saudi economy this year, as part of a wider 4.8 percent contraction in Gulf economies, with a projected strong rebound of 9.1 percent in 2027 if hostilities end and navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is gradually restored.

The Fund classified Saudi Arabia among the region’s "least affected" countries, and Jihad Azour, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, said the Kingdom had been able to reroute oil flows via its Red Sea infrastructure and that its capacity to absorb the shock remains high given it still exports between five and six million barrels per day, while acknowledging that recent tensions are affecting economic activity. The Fund expects the average oil price to be around $96 per barrel in 2026.

Escalation against the backdrop of a regional confrontation

Cross-border attacks from Yemen have risen sharply during October, coinciding with the wider confrontation between the United States and Iran that began in late February. Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan discussed Iran, Yemen and navigation security in the Strait of Hormuz with their counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Istanbul yesterday, Friday.

What this means

The tempo of the attacks shows the confrontation has shifted from the southern border into the Saudi interior, where major airports and energy sites are concentrated. While the success of air defenses in intercepting today's missile does not eliminate the economic cost of the escalation—which is visible in evacuations, flight suspensions and reduced travel—the course of the coming weeks will depend on the success of regional and international diplomatic efforts to contain the escalation before it spreads to export facilities relied upon by global oil markets.

Read also: Istanbul meeting warns of a new attack on Iran and calls for opening the Strait of Hormuz