RIYADH, Tuesday, 27 October 2026 — Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia towards Riyadh on Tuesday afternoon, the Saudi-led coalition said, in the second wave of attacks on the kingdom in a single day.
Coalition confirms Riyadh interception
“Air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh,” coalition spokesman Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki said in a statement shared on social media, according to Agence France-Presse.
The coalition gave no immediate details on casualties or damage, and Gulf News reported that no further information was immediately available about the incident. The Houthis did not immediately claim the Riyadh launches.
Alerts across the kingdom
Saudi Civil Defence issued warning alerts on Tuesday across several regions, including the capital Riyadh, Al-Kharj, Al-Hariq and Abha, the Siasat newspaper reported, as well as in Khamis Mushait governorate and Najran City.
Civil Defence later confirmed that the danger had passed in the affected areas, while directing residents to continue following its instructions and to avoid gatherings even as the attacks were momentarily halted.
Second wave in one day
The Riyadh interceptions came hours after the coalition said it had intercepted three ballistic missiles aimed at the kingdom’s Eastern Region and four drones aimed at the Southern Region in the early hours of Tuesday, with Civil Defence issuing early-warning alerts for the Eastern Region and Kharj governorate before later saying the danger had passed.
The coalition said on Monday it had intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile fired at Riyadh and destroyed two launchers in Sanaa, including the one used in that attack. It also said it had carried out a “qualitative” operation that destroyed five missile storage tunnels, four launch pads and a missile depot in Houthi-controlled areas, while on Sunday it said it had intercepted 10 ballistic missiles fired towards the southern region, Kuwait Times reported, citing KUNA.
Truce shattered as fighting intensifies
Saudi Arabia has intensified its strikes on the Houthis since the group captured strategic areas along Yemen’s Red Sea coast last month, advancing towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key global shipping route for Gulf oil producers, Reuters reported.
The renewed fighting has shattered a 2022 UN-brokered truce that largely halted attacks between the Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government, and the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa.
The escalation has opened another front in the US-Israeli war on Iran, Reuters said, even as diplomacy continued: senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iran’s leadership in Tehran on Monday in a bid to stop the eight-month war reigniting, talks Tehran described as “very good” but which produced no concrete announcement.
