• Houthis claim shooting down aircraft; Saudi forces say three drones and two ballistic missiles intercepted
• Egyptian parliament postpones vote to authorise military support for Riyadh
• Saudi air strike in Yemen killed nine people, Houthis allege
RIYADH: The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis on Sunday said two pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed near the Yemen border, after the group said it shot the aircraft down.
The coalition blamed a “technical malfunction” for the incident, which inflicted its first military fatalities since the long-running war with the Houthis reignited in July.
The incident comes a week after strikes by the group killed 13 people at Riyadh’s international airport, the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade.
“An AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter belonging to the Ministry of National Guard crashed inside Saudi territory in Najran Region due to a technical malfunction,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
“The accident resulted in the martyrdom of its aircrew, consisting of two officers.” Late on Saturday, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had “downed an Apache helicopter belonging to the Saudi enemy” in the same area.
Egypt vote delayed
Meanwhile, Egypt’s parliament on Sunday postponed a vote on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s request to authorise military support for Saudi Arabia, two lawmakers told AFP, with deliberations set to continue on Monday.
The session was convened after Sisi asked lawmakers to approve support for Saudi Arabia’s defence if requested by the kingdom, which has come under near-daily attacks from Yemen’s Houthis since early October.
“The session was extended to give all lawmakers the opportunity to speak and express their views,” lawmaker Ibrahim Kholeif told AFP, adding that parliamentarians were mostly in support of the move.
Another lawmaker, Maha Abdel Nasser, said proceedings would continue on Monday “to allow all lawmakers to be heard”.
Egyptian media reported that deliberations would continue into Tuesday.
Both lawmakers said no details were being discussed about what form Egypt’s military support for Saudi Arabia could take.
Sisi on Saturday requested parliamentary authorisation to help defend Saudi Arabia “if requested”, saying it was “inconceivable” for Cairo to stand by as Saudi Arabia’s security and stability are threatened. “Under the directives of His Majesty King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, we are prepared to take any measure to protect you or defend you,” he said at a military graduation ceremony.
‘Saudi strike’
Separately, an alleged Saudi air strike in Yemen killed at least nine people and wounded 16 others, Houthi media reported, as fighting between the two sides in the country’s revived civil war escalates further. Group’s Saba news agency said an air strike on a home in Saada governorate in Yemen’s north “led to the martyrdom of nine and the injury of 16 others, most of them women and children”, adding that the toll was not final.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis has launched hundreds of raids in Yemen backing the internationally recognised government since the start of the renewed fighting in the long-running civil war.
Houthi projectile
On the other hand, a Houthi projectile injured at least six people in southern Saudi Arabia after it struck a residential area in Najran near the border with Yemen, according to the kingdom’s civil defence agency. “On Sunday, civil defence in the city of Najran responded to the fall of an enemy projectile launched by the Houthi militia at a residential site, resulting in six citizens being injured and material damage to three homes and three vehicles,” the civil defence said on X.
For weeks, the Houthis have targeted airports and energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia on a near-daily basis.
Two drones intercepted
The coalition said overnight that it intercepted two drones in the Riyadh area and a third over the oil-rich Eastern Province. Saudi authorities had earlier issued a threat alert in the capital.
Two ballistic missiles “launched by the Houthis towards Khamis Mushait” were intercepted in the kingdom’s south, the coalition added.
In the meantime, Riyadh’s landmark Kingdom Centre skyscraper ordered remote working for office tenants on Sunday as disruption spread from Houthi attacks and the Saudi-led coalition announced its first military deaths since the war reignited.
The 99-storey tower, one of Saudi Arabia’s tallest buildings, announced “mandatory” remote working until further notice. No reason was given for the order, but it follows a fresh security alert and two drone interceptions around the capital. Schools in the capital and surrounding areas extended online learning into a second week, while Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport remains closed after 13 people were killed in a major attack last week.
The Saudi coalition’s decade-plus war with the Houthis has returned with ferocity during the US-Iran war, with regular attacks reported by both sides.
Tenants of the Kingdom Centre, which towers over central Riyadh, include financial services giant Merrill Lynch, management consultancy McKinsey and the International Monetary Fund.
“Please be advised that remote working arrangements are mandatory for all office employees at Kingdom Centre, effective immediately and until further notice,” the building’s management said in an email seen by AFP.
Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2026
