Flames burn at a facility belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco, south of Riyadh, on October 3, 2026. (AFP Photo via Getty Images) /
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Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have intensified their deadly campaign of strikes against Riyadh, the Saudi capital, where explosions were heard Thursday, flights disrupted and some office workers told to work from home.
The Houthis said they fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh airport and threatened again to force a closure of Saudi airspace after the kingdom threw its support behind the forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government in a reignited civil war.
The conflict, now an extension of the US-Iran war, has added new chaos to a region already on fire and threatens to drag other states into grueling mountain fighting – with Syria now considering deploying troops to help Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom has been pushing for support from allied countries including Turkey and Pakistan, even if only logistically or defensively, as it tries to reverse Houthi gains in southwest Yemen, at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
Those demands have become more urgent since Saudi authorities announced Wednesday that three people had been killed this week in strikes on airports in Riyadh and Abha in the southwest.
Civil war reignited by conflict in Iran
Flight tracking system FlightRadar24 reported numerous arrival and departure delays at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Thursday.
Several multinational companies based in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) asked their staff to work from home after Thursday morning’s loud detonations, said five people familiar with the matter, including some affected staff members.
The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment and KAFD was not immediately available for comment.
Some diplomats said they had received warnings and some schools in Riyadh informed parents that there were orders to shelter in place, although authorities did not issue a public alert. Reuters could not identify the source of the booms.
Yemen’s long civil war, which ended with a ceasefire in 2022, erupted again in recent weeks when the Houthis seized parts of the Red Sea coast last month, including along the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The Houthis, who control many of Yemen’s most populous areas including the capital Sanaa, have said they are responding to attacks by the Saudi-backed government, something the government denies.
Their shipping threats on a waterway that has become increasingly critical to Gulf oil exports since Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and their attacks on Saudi cities and infrastructure have brought the kingdom back.
This week, Saudi-backed forces launched a counterattack, retaking areas around the strait.
However, in a multi-frontline war, the Houthis have made their own gains, encircling Yemen’s third-largest city, Taiz, seizing territory along its main mountain road leading to Aden.
The fighting, which pits the Houthis against a coalition of Saudi-backed forces led by an internationally recognized government, has led to a humanitarian crisis in the poorest Arab state, displacing 200,000 people since the conflict resumed.
Officials say Syrian aid may be purely defensive
A U.S. official and a Syrian defense official said Syria was carefully studying options for military support, including defensive aid to protect Saudi Arabia from attacks, or an offensive deployment to help fight the Houthis.
In response to a request for comment to the Syrian Foreign Ministry, a diplomat said Syria stood firmly with Saudi Arabia but was focused on domestic priorities such as ending its own civil war.
Saudi Arabia concluded the Mecca Pact with Turkey and Pakistan this summer, committing all three to mutual defense, although Ankara has not yet ratified the treaty.
NATO member Turkey said Wednesday it was sending mainly defensive technical support to the kingdom to help it fight the Houthis.
A Turkish official said this should take the form of military equipment, intelligence sharing and weapons systems.
Turkey, a close ally of the Syrian government and a supporter of its forces while they were still rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad’s government, had already brought some Syrians to fight in Libya’s civil war in 2020.
Pakistan has sent military equipment to Aden in southern Yemen to help in the fight against the Houthis, Pakistani sources said, and has deployed troops to Saudi Arabia to help defend its borders.
Saudi and Yemeni authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
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