On Sunday, 11 October, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was struck for the second consecutive day, with projectiles reaching the facility on back-to-back occasions. One person died and 11 others sustained injuries in the attack.

Toll figures released by Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation placed the death count from the 10 October event at no fewer than 12, with more than 300 additional people recorded as having sustained injuries. GACA identified one fatality as a Pakistani national and noted that the 11 people hurt in the Sunday incident were distributed across several hospital facilities to receive care.

Property damage at the airport was verified by the authority, with personnel working to determine the extent of the losses. Video from the terminal captured the moment an explosion occurred while travellers bound for the Umrah pilgrimage were gathered at their departure gates, with the force of the blast scattering those nearby across the concourse. An explosion sent people at the location fleeing and brought activity there to a standstill.

Fire broke out at Terminal 4 of King Khalid International Airport on Sunday, following a coalition statement that an incoming projectile had struck the facility. The same statement indicated that a missile heading toward the airport had been brought down by air defence systems. Saudi authorities have not released a full account of the projectile's path and point of impact.

According to a post on X by the flight-tracking platform Flightradar24, the airport would remain closed for a further 24 hours, with the restriction set to lift at 2100 GMT on Monday, 12 October. Riyadh-bound and departing flights were disrupted after the suspension took effect, with passengers left without reliable departure and arrival updates.

Multiple blasts were reported across neighbourhoods throughout the Saudi capital on Sunday, with residents across the city describing the sounds. The 10 October attack was logged among the deadliest strikes on Saudi territory in more than a decade.

Aviation authorities confirmed that among those who lost their lives in the 10 October strike were four people holding Saudi nationality, two from Bangladesh, and individuals from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, and Sudan. Authorities placed the toll of those wounded at 309.

Two earlier strikes hit the same airport — one on Wednesday, 7 October and another on Thursday, 8 October — before the 10 October attack, with multiple news outlets carrying reports of all three incidents. Fatalities, property damage, and disruptions to air travel were among the consequences tied to those events as well.

Responsibility for the strikes was claimed by the Houthi movement, a Yemeni armed group with ties to Iran, which also identified Saudi airports and other transit infrastructure as potential future targets. The organisation put airlines, airport staff, and passengers on notice that Saudi transit facilities were being treated as active operational targets by the group. The Houthis also asserted responsibility for a series of attacks in the 24-hour window before Sunday, among them the strike on Riyadh airport.

A separate incident at King Fahd International Airport, located in the Eastern Province of Dammam, was verified by GACA. The group's communiqué listed that facility among the targets its fighters reportedly struck. Two separate notices from the coalition reported that a projectile had landed in the vicinity and that a drone had been brought down over the eastern region.

Hostilities between Houthi forces and the Saudi-backed coalition have been escalating in Yemen, forming the backdrop against which the strikes are unfolding. Saudi Arabia has provided military and political support to Yemen's internationally recognised government throughout a conflict spanning several years against an opposing armed faction. Forces aligned with the Houthi movement, which holds authority over the Yemeni capital Sanaa, carried out strikes on infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia during the period of renewed hostilities. Closures at Saudi Arabian airports have periodically disrupted commercial flight operations in a country that receives both international travellers and religious pilgrims passing through its terminals.