Explosions, Fire: Viral Videos Claim Gates At Riyadh Airport Closed, Passengers Evacuated After Houthis Attack

The attacks came as a Saudi-led coalition joined a Yemeni government offensive against the Houthis.

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The US Embassy in Riyadh has also issued a security alert on October 5.
Gh2_xz & Xnews_l Videograb/ X

Videos circulating on social media claim to show closed gates and passengers being moved out of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh after Yemen's Houthis said they had targeted it.

The footage is unverified, and Saudi authorities had not confirmed any evacuation or damage at the airport by the time of writing the report.

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What The Clips Show

One widely shared clip, carrying a Shajab News watermark, shows an empty departures area with gates roped off. A second shows a departures board in which several flights appear marked as closed or delayed.

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OSINT account Hexagone Intel, citing local sources, said incoming landings were suspended and several gates were closed.

Another account posted Arabic-captioned footage of people in a terminal, claiming passengers were fleeing. A separate post claimed a plane had been warned not to land.

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One post, from an account called X News, claimed the airport had been "reduced to rubble" by a Qat-600-type missile. Its footage is a blurred two-second clip.

ALSO READ: Yemen Announces Launch Of 'Operation Yemen Dawn' To Retake Sanaa, End Houthi Coup

Houthi Claims

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a pre-recorded statement that the group fired ballistic and cruise missiles and drones at King Khalid airport and an Aramco refinery in Rabigh.

He also named Abha airport and military facilities in Khamis Mushait. AFP journalists reported loud explosions over Riyadh on Monday evening.

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The attacks came as a Saudi-led coalition joined a Yemeni government offensive against the Houthis, with the government saying its forces had retaken the Bab al-Mandab coastline through Mocha.

Warnings In Riyadh

The US Embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert on October 5, citing "the potential for aerial drone or missile attacks" and urging US citizens to follow Saudi Civil Defence guidance.

ALSO READ: Yemeni Government Forces Attack Houthi Positions Near Bab el-Mandeb

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry separately warned that "filming, publishing, or sharing information related to countering missiles and drones and their impact sites exposes you to legal liability", which may limit the verified footage reaching the public.

Embassy Damage Predates Latest Attack

A post by US Senator Chris Murphy has also circulated alongside the airport videos. Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who visited Riyadh, said he saw damage to the US embassy and that an attack during the day "would have been a mass casualty event".

The damage he described relates to the two Iranian drones that struck the compound in March, according to Saudi Defence Ministry accounts of that attack. It is not linked to Monday's Houthi claims, it said.

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