Coalition forces backing Yemen's internationally recognised government said on Saturday that they had shot down a ballistic missile and intercepted a drone aimed at Saudi Arabia, amid an intensifying campaign of cross-border attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militia, Arab News reported.
Source: Arab News via Scoop, Oct 24, 2026
Al Jazeera reported that the Saudi-led coalition said its air defences had downed a Houthi ballistic missile targeting Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Israeli outlet Walla, reported by News in Israel, said the coalition announced it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by Houthi fighters in Yemen targeting Riyadh, after Saudi civil defence issued alerts for potential threats to the Riyadh, Najran and Wadi Al-Dawasir regions.
Source: Al Jazeera via Hatha Alyoum; Walla via News in Israel, Oct 24, 2026
Shortly past 4 a.m., the Saudi Civil Defense sounded alerts, Arab News reported. None of the reports carried any immediate word of casualties or damage from the Saturday interception.
Source: Arab News via Scoop, Oct 24, 2026
It was the second consecutive morning of interceptions over the kingdom. Early on Friday, the coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched toward Riyadh and two drones launched toward Saudi Arabia's southern region, in an announcement carried by the Saudi Press Agency and reported by Arab News on October 23.
Source: Arab News, Oct 23, 2026
The Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia were also on the agenda in Istanbul on Friday, where Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met his counterparts from Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Britain and Italy to discuss the Iran war, the attacks on Saudi Arabia and Russia's war in Ukraine, and cautioned that any renewed attack on Iran would expand the conflict, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters, Oct 23, 2026
For the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers living across the Gulf, the near-daily missile and drone alerts are a direct safety concern, and each new wave also keeps pressure on regional air defences and on the energy markets that Gulf economies depend on.