Saudi-led coalition says Houthis fired ballistic missile at Riyadh

A large plume of black smoke rises from the fuel storage area at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday. | REUTERS

AFP-Jiji

Sep 20, 2026

Riyadh – The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said Saturday that the Iran-backed group fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn, after a fire broke out near the Saudi capital’s international airport.

Firefighters extinguished a blaze on a fuel tank with the logo of the Saudi oil giant Aramco at a fuel depot near Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. Footage shared online and verified by AFP showed a column of black smoke above airport buildings.

In recent weeks, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has staged a lightning offensive, seizing swaths of territory in one of the world’s poorest countries, leaving the internationally recognized government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, scrambling to respond.

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