Friday, October 9, 2026
• The Houthis launch a new ballistic missile attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday; and the Saudi authorities announce on Friday the death of 3 people — one of them a Saudi Airlines employee — and the injury of others, and damage to an aircraft belonging to the company and thick smoke rising above the airport (Source: Reuters). • The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority confirms that among those killed in the Riyadh airport attack (Wednesday, October 7) was a Sudanese citizen, alongside 8 injured (5 Saudis, two Egyptians and a Pakistani) — bringing the total victims of the Abha and Riyadh attacks to 3 dead and 36 injured (Sources: Bloomberg, citing the Authority / SPA). • Abha airport attack (October 6–7): Two resident women killed (Moroccan and Algerian) and 28 people injured, including Saudis, a Bangladeshi and a Filipino (Sources: CNN / SPA). • Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi pledges in a televised speech to continue attacks on Saudi Arabia and confront Saudi-backed forces in Yemen (Source: CNN). • The Houthis renew their warning "for the last time" to international airlines against operating in Saudi airspace, considering it a theatre of operations, and warn employees and engineers of Saudi oil facilities against the targeted sites (Sources: CNN / Reuters). • The Saudi-led coalition responds by destroying 82 Houthi military targets in Saada, Hodeidah, Al-Jawf and Marib, including ballistic missile stores and command centers (Source: Bloomberg); and announces on Friday the destruction of 3 launch platforms in Sanaa that were being prepared for an imminent attack, amid reports of night air strikes on the Yemeni capital (Source: Reuters). • An unknown projectile hits a ship off the UAE coast on Friday and ignites a fire that was later extinguished, two days after an oil tanker off Qatar was hit by projectiles with no claim of responsibility (Sources: Reuters / UKMTO). • Brent exceeds $105 per barrel on Thursday, rising more than 5% (the highest close since late September); and member states of the International Energy Agency agree to accelerate the release of strategic reserves and give priority to diesel (Source: Reuters). • Aramco CEO Amin Nasser warns that the global oil reserve is "scarily thin": it has fallen from 10 billion barrels at the start of the war to 6 billion, and the US strategic stockpile is at 283 million barrels — the lowest since 1982 (Source: Barron's). • Trump: Washington will not launch an attack on Iran before the November midterm elections, and "constructive" talks to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz (Source: Reuters). • The two UAE stock exchanges diverged on Friday: Dubai ends a 3-session losing streak, rising 0.3% (Emirates NBD share +2.1%), and Abu Dhabi declines, affected by losses in basic materials and telecommunications (Source: Reuters). • QatarEnergy: The first liquefied gas line in the North Field East expansion is ready for operation in November (Source: Reuters). • The Arab League condemns the targeting of Abha and King Khalid airports and describes it as a violation of sovereignty and international law; and the UAE, France and Canada join the condemners (Sources: SPA / WE News). • Air traffic gradually returns to King Khalid Airport after the cancellation of more than 150 flights following the two attacks; and flightradar24 monitors a gradual resumption of flights (Sources: Gulf Business / Reuters). • The Sudanese angle: The killing of a Sudanese citizen in the Riyadh airport attack (October 7) is the most prominent event for the Sudanese community in Saudi Arabia this week; and more than 1.5 million Sudanese in the Kingdom are living days of anxiety with the escalating targeting of airports and facilities and repeated Houthi warnings (Source: Al-Ghad channel report on the Expatriates Affairs Authority). — Editorial Team