Report: Saudi Prince is between guarded bunkers amid Houthi strikes

Published: 06:24 EDT, 12 October 2026 | Updated: 06:24 EDT, 12 October 2026

Saudi Arabia’s terrified Crown Prince has been forced into hiding as Houthi rebels continue to hit Riyadh with deadly missile strikes, a report has claimed.

Mohammed bin Salman, 41, has for the past six days been moving between heavily guarded palaces with bunkers, according to officials.

On Saturday, the Kingdom was struck by its deadliest attack in a decade when a projectile hit King Khalid International Airport, killing 13 and injuring hundreds.

The Saudi capital’s airport was struck again yesterday, leaving one dead and 11 injured.

After this serious escalation in the war between the Saudi-led coalition government and Iran-backed Houthi fighters, Donald Trump warned the US could intervene.

Yesterday he waded in on the conflict, telling reporters he ‘may’ join a counter attack after the Saudis vowed to retaliate.

As the Houthi strikes on Riyadh intensify the terrified crown prince has been closely guarded out of sight, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports.

The last time he was seen in public was on Tuesday, when he gave blood in a bid to support a national donation drive.

Citing Saudi officials, the WSJ reports: ‘The 41-year-old crown prince is shuttling between heavily guarded palaces equipped with bunkers and is guarded by a handpicked security team.’

Meanwhile schools across the capital have been forced to close and are operating with remote learning as Houthi attacks intensify.

It comes after President Trump last month described the Crown Prince as a ‘good friend’.

When asked by reporters about the momentum that Houthi fighters were gaining in Yemen, he said: ‘Everything is gonna work out fine and dandy. It’s gonna be very good.’

And yesterday, when quizzed about US involvement in the conflict, the president said he is ‘going to look at it’.

The Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia on Sunday drew widespread criticism as the UK and EU condemned the attacks and reaffirmed their support for the country.

British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the Houthis’ missile strikes were ‘contemptible’ and described them as ‘dangerous escalation’ in the war.

He told Sky News: ‘What we’ve seen overnight is a dangerous escalation and I’m afraid an increasing pattern of behaviour from the Houthis that’s targeting civilian sites in Saudi Arabia.

‘This is completely contemptible action and it’s one of the reasons why the UK is providing support to Saudi Arabia in the form of air defences, but also air-to-air refuelling.’

‘We want to see an end to this conflict. It cannot be right that the Houthis are attacking civilian targets in this way.’

Meanwhile EU chief Ursula von der Leyen joined the chorus of condemnation as she too labelled the attacks a ‘dangerous escalation’ while calling on the Houthis to halt strikes on civilian targets.

She said: ‘These attacks by Iran’s proxies are pushing the region into a spiral of violence.’

‘They are destabilising crucial global transport and energy nodes with shockwaves sent through the world. These murderous attacks at civilians must stop at once.’

She added that the EU stands in ‘solidarity with Saudi Arabia’.

The Houthis last night claimed responsibility for the attacks on King Khalid International Airport yesterday, which killed one person and injured 11 others.

The group said it had targeted the location several times as well as Saudi energy facilities, a day after Saturday’s deadly attack.

Military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Iran-backed group ‘carried out four qualitative operations in the past 24 hours using ballistic and cruise missiles and drones’.

Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority condemned the ‘heinous attack’ – saying it resulted in ‘material damage’.

The authority said: ‘The attack resulted in the death of a Pakistani resident – may God have mercy on him – and the injury of 11 others.’

It came just hours after the rebel group warned that Saudi airports are ‘potential targets and sites for operations by our forces’.

Mr Saree urged ‘everyone to take our warnings seriously,’ adding that Saudi Arabia ‘bears responsibility’ for failing to intercept its missiles.

Among the dead in Saturday’s attack were four Saudi citizens, including a captain with the national airline as well as two Bangladeshis, one US citizen, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian, one Sudanese and one Indian.

The strike hit a passenger terminal at King Khalid on Saturday.

It was the deadliest on the kingdom in over a decade, when an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers in a Shia mosque in the eastern Qatif governorate.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Saturday’s incident and shared that one unidentified American died.

He said: ‘The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorists Houthis, including today’s strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen.’

Mr Rubio continued: ‘These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now.’

‘We stand with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people and extend our condolences to the victims and their families.’

Saudi coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki described the strike as a ‘cowardly terrorist attack’ against a civilian facility.

The civil war in Yemen flared back to life in July after a four-year, UN-brokered truce collapsed, months into a wider Middle East war that has rocked the region and roiled energy supplies and markets.

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that has supported Yemen’s government militarily since 2015 and is now being drawn deeper into its impoverished neighbour’s conflict.

Mr Trump has said he will speak with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, calling what happened in Saudi Arabia ‘not acceptable’.

He told reporters: ‘It’s not good… I’m not happy.’

US media outlets have reported that previous Saudi requests for US military assistance in dealing with the Houthis have been rebuffed.

If Mr Trump does decide to get involved, it would likely escalate the ongoing war between the US and Iran.