Houthi Missile Hits Riyadh Airport, 12 Killed and 309 Injured
A Houthi missile hit Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on October 10, killing 12 people and injuring 309, according to Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority.
On Saturday, October 10, a Houthi missile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority says 12 people died and 309 were injured. Four of the dead were Saudi citizens, and eight were foreign nationals. The airport suspended operations and diverted flights.
A phone video posted online showed the attack before official figures were released, and social media monitoring of the clips put the first images in front of newsrooms, with Reuters running a screengrab from one of them. The head of the Houthi media office posted on X that the group had “shut down” the airport, and the Saudi-led coalition blamed the Houthis.
India’s embassy later said an injured Indian citizen had died, raising the toll to 13. On Sunday, a separate projectile hit terminals 3 and 4, which serve domestic flights, and the authority reported one more death, a Pakistani resident, and 11 injuries.
The Houthis also claimed an attack on Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport, which the authority confirmed was hit. Al Jazeera counts four strikes on the Riyadh airport in five days, and it remains closed. Reuters, as quoted by Profile News, called Saturday’s attack the deadliest inside Saudi Arabia in more than a decade, and President Trump has said the United States is considering joining Saudi operations against the Houthis. Profile News also reported oil above $104 as the week closed.
Social Media Carried the First Images of the Strike
Social media provided the first signals, while confirmed figures took two days to settle. A team that checked once on Saturday had an outdated picture by Sunday night, so following the full sequence matters more than any single alert.
Social media monitoring catches the first signal, but it works best when it is read alongside news coverage. A search tied to one date would have missed most of this story: four strikes in five days, a second airport and a toll that rose from 12 to 13. Teams also need to record who said what and when, so they can distinguish a confirmed figure from a claim.
Our PR and crisis management page explains how teams set up this kind of monitoring.
Similar Attacks Seen Before
Houthi missiles aimed at Riyadh, including its airport, were reported in November 2017 and March 2018, and Saudi forces said they intercepted them. In 2018, online videos showed what appeared to be a missile fuselage on a Riyadh street, so social footage has long shaped how these attacks first reach the public
