Thursday, October 8, 2026
• The Houthis announced this morning that they had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile, hours after the Kingdom announced the killing of one person in an earlier attack on the same airport; successive explosions were heard in Riyadh this morning with no official comment yet (Source: Reuters). • The Saudi-led coalition announced the interception and destruction of a Houthi ballistic missile north of Riyadh; and the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation confirmed the killing of 3 people and the injury of 36 in the attacks on Abha Airport (October 6) and King Khalid Airport in Riyadh (October 7) (Sources: The Coalition via Anadolu Agency / Civil Aviation Authority). • Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree warned experts, engineers and workers at Saudi oil facilities against being present at sites the group considers targets, and renewed his warning to airlines, airports, travellers and their workers (Source: Reuters). • The media adviser to the Syrian presidency, Ahmed Mouaffaq Zidan, denied the accuracy of reports circulating about a Saudi request to send Syrian forces to Yemen, in response to what a US official and an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defence attributed to Reuters about the possibility of Damascus deploying forces to help Saudi Arabia against the Houthis (Source: Reuters). • Two officials confirmed to Reuters that Turkey had sent Saudi Arabia defensive and technical support to help it confront the Houthis (Source: Reuters). • The French Foreign Ministry called on the Houthis to immediately stop attacks on Saudi Arabia; the Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council, Jasem Al-Budaiwi, called for a firm and deterrent international response to the targeting of Saudi airports; the UAE strongly condemned the attacks on King Khalid and Abha airports as a flagrant violation of the Kingdom's sovereignty, affirming its full solidarity, and Qatar condemned them as a grave violation of Saudi sovereignty and a direct threat to the security of the region (Sources: French Foreign Ministry / Anadolu Agency / UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs). • Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed received a phone call from Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa that addressed fraternal relations and regional developments, a day after al-Sharaa's visit to Riyadh and his meeting with Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Sources: WAM / CNN Arabic). • The UAE Cabinet, chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, approved the launch of the "Cabinet AI Adviser System" — 32 specialised assistants working with ministers around the clock — with the start of the new government season (Source: WAM). • Gulf bourses fell in early Thursday trading as attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz reached their highest level in the war — a tanker was hit by projectiles 51 nautical miles north of Qatar's northern city, with casualties reported according to UKMTO; the Saudi index -0.9%, Abu Dhabi -0.9%, Dubai -0.9% and Qatar -0.6% (Source: Reuters). • The Qatar Stock Exchange index fell 0.27% at the start of today's trading to 9184 points under pressure from sectors (Source: QNA). • Saudi Arabia and the UAE expressed their readiness to cooperate in the regional oil storage initiative in Asia during the ministerial meeting of the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) — according to the Japanese Minister of Economy (Source: BusinessWorld). • Egypt's ambassador in Doha discussed with Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Trade the outlines of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement; and Cairo will host the second round of negotiations at the end of October (Source: Youm7). • Doha is hosting the 11th annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank with the participation of more than 1000 participants (Source: Gulf Press). • The Central Bank of Bahrain cut the overnight deposit interest rate by 25 basis points (Source: Khalijiyoun 24). • The Scientific Center in Kuwait launched its new season of the "STEAM" programme in cooperation with Tam Bank for the 2026/2027 academic year (Source: Gulf Press). • Saudi Arabia's National Center of Meteorology expects heavy thunderstorms to continue over Jazan, Asir, Al-Baha and Mecca (Source: National Center of Meteorology via Gulf Press). • The Sudanese angle: The Gulf hosts the largest Sudanese diaspora communities — more than 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia, about 200,000 in the UAE and tens of thousands in Qatar and Oman — and the Houthis' repeated warnings to airports and oil facilities directly affect their security; and expatriates' remittances are a lifeline for millions of families inside Sudan despite most of them leaking outside official channels (Source: Al-Ghad TV report on the Expatriates Affairs Authority). In a recent humanitarian development: the Sudanese Embassy in Riyadh announced Saudi authorities' approval for the children of Sudanese arriving on visit visas to enrol in Saudi schools — government schools free of charge — within capacity (Source: Sudanese Embassy in Riyadh via Al-Sa'a 24). — Editorial Team