12 killed, 309 wounded in missile attack on Riyadh airport

 

At least 12 people killed, including an American, and 309 wounded in a missile attack on Riyadh's airport, believed to have been carried out by the Houthis.

At least 12 people were killed and 309 others injured in an attack on Riyadh's international airport on Saturday, Saudi Arabia's Civil Aviation Authority announced.

The incident marked the third attack on the airport within a week, prompting authorities to suspend operations temporarily and divert all flights. Western governments also urged their citizens to stay away from the airport and its surrounding areas.

According to Saudi officials, the fatalities included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshi citizens and one person each from the United States, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Sudan and Egypt.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that an American citizen was killed in the attack, saying in a statement, "The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today’s strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen."

“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," he added.

No organization immediately claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack. However, the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen has intensified its missile attacks against Saudi Arabia and claimed responsibility for the two previous strikes on the airport earlier in the week.

Those attacks killed four people and caused extensive damage to a Saudi commercial aircraft.

People familiar with the latest incident, including two Western officials, cautioned that the reported casualty figures remained preliminary and could rise.

They said the attack occurred without advance warning, as Saudi Arabia's threat detection and warning system failed to issue an alert.

Emergency responders transported the wounded to hospitals using ambulances and helicopters. Several victims were reported to be in critical condition.

The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that operations at the airport, the busiest in the kingdom and serving the approximately eight million residents of Riyadh, had been temporarily halted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udYErsh1ltE

The repeated attacks have raised concerns about Saudi Arabia's air defense capabilities as the kingdom continues conducting airstrikes against the Houthis in support of a Yemeni government ground offensive against the Iranian-backed group.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump indicated that Washington could consider participating in Saudi military operations against the Houthis.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump was asked whether the United States intended to join the Saudi strikes.

“We may. We’re going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly," he said.

The US Embassy in Riyadh also issued a security warning following the incident.

The embassy said it was “aware of attacks" and “strongly recommends all US citizens avoid this airport and surrounding areas."

Saudi Arabia first entered Yemen's civil war in 2015, leading an Arab coalition in support of the internationally recognized government after the Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa.

A ceasefire reached in 2022 largely brought cross-border hostilities to a halt. However, fighting resumed in July amid the broader conflict involving Iran.

During their latest offensive, the Houthis gained control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline, including the port city of Mokha and three strategically important islands overlooking the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a major international shipping route.

Related articles

• Saudi Arabia plans offensive against Houthis
• Yemen announces major offensive to retake Houthi-controlled areas
• Saudi-led coalition launches Yemen operation against Houthis
• Israel was prepared to shoot down Flydubai plane

Last Sunday, Yemen's internationally recognized government announced the beginning of a large-scale military campaign to recapture territory under Houthi control.

The following day, the Saudi-led coalition announced its own military operation in Yemen's Hodeidah province, joining the government's effort to regain territory from the Iran-backed group.

‘Cannot be broken': New bike park to open at Kibbutz Be’eri, devastated on Oct. 7

 

Sharon Shevo (left) and Avida Bachar at the entrance to the Tour de France fan zone in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, Italy, on June 27, 2024. Photo by Amelie Botbol.

The park offers a space to gather, learn to ride, train and enjoy cycling while reconnecting with the sport at the heart of the community.

(Oct. 10, 2026 / JNS)

A new bike park will officially open on Tuesday at Kibbutz Be’eri as part of efforts to rebuild the community’s cycling infrastructure and provide residents of the northwestern Negev with recreational opportunities following the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.

Designed for children and teenagers, the park offers a space to gather, learn to ride, train and enjoy cycling while reconnecting with the sport at the heart of the Be’eri community. It was made possible by a donation from philanthropist Sylvan Adams, in cooperation with Israel Cycling Academy and Kibbutz Be’eri.

“The decision to build this track came from a conversation I had with two members of Be’eri, Avida Bachar and Rani Levy, during which I told them that we’ll build back the cycling infrastructure better than before, so that our enemies know that we cannot be deterred,” Adams told JNS.

“This is another sign of normalcy, that we are resilient, cannot be broken. This is our land, our country, and we say to the world, to our friends, and to our enemies, we are here to stay,” he said.

Be’eri was one of the hardest-hit areas on Oct. 7, with 101 residents murdered by Palestinian terrorists and 32 civilians abducted into Gaza.

Adams said the track was intended not only for Be’eri but also for neighboring communities in the Gaza border region and across southern Israel.

“Here is a scoop: The Igud HaOfanayim [Israel Cycling Federation] will hold the first Israeli pump track championship here very soon. And there’s more: This championship will be followed by another competition which will serve as the qualification race for the world championships,” he said.

Sharon Shevo (left), Avida Bachar (right) and Sylvan Adams (behind Bachar) take part in a training session with the team ahead of the 2024 Tour de France. Credit: Israel-Premier Tech.

Bachar told JNS that Be’eri has a long-standing cycling culture, crediting Erez Manor, owner of the La Medavesh bicycle center at the kibbutz, with helping to establish the tradition.

“We want to preserve it; it’s a symbol of Be’eri. We want to deepen the connection between Be’eri and this culture,” Bachar said.

Bachar lost his wife, Dana, his son Carmel and his right leg in the Oct. 7 terror invasion.

Avida Bachar reviews the damage of his burnt home at Kibbutz Be’eri, April 15, 2024. Photo by Rina Castelnuovo.

The cycling trails around Be’eri offer visitors a chance to experience the region’s natural beauty, from its spring blossoms to its yellow summer landscapes, said Bachar, who has been cycling for 20 years.

“We are creating a social circle. Cyclists sit together, talk and make coffee along the way. The most important thing is the friendships that develop around the bikes. The bikes are just an excuse,” he continued. “It will rehabilitate and bring a lot of life to the region, not only for Be’eri but for all of us in the region.”

https://www.jns.org/news/israel-news/cannot-be-broken-new-bike-park-to-open-at-kibbutz-beeri-devastated-on-oct-7

Neanderthal Wooden Tools

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/neanderthal-wooden-tools-from-spain-found-preserved-in-stone/

The Stone Age owes its name to tools that survived to our time. The material early humans worked with most, though, was probably wood because it is so much easier to process. Unfortunately, we know very little about Paleolithic woodwork because wood rots relatively quickly. But at Abric Romaní, a rock shelter in Capellades, west of Barcelona, mineral-rich water coated wooden Neanderthal tools in a limestone-like crust. When wood rotted away, it left behind hollow molds that faithfully reflect its shape.

In a recent Science Advances study, a team of Spanish archaeologists has cataloged 597 wooden remains from Neanderthal living areas dating from 62,000 to 40,000 years ago. They found spears, digging sticks, bark trays, parts of shelters, and a club unlike anything seen before, suggesting Neanderthals were likely much more than just Homo sapiens’ dumber cousins.

Beyond hunting gear

The oldest wooden artifacts we have are mostly weapons. They include spears from a German town called Schöningen, a spear tip from Clacton-on-Sea in England, and the spear found alongside an elephant skeleton in Lehringen, Germany. Most came from waterlogged sediments, where a lack of oxygen slowed decay.

The spears mostly give us information about how Neanderthals hunted. The findings at Abric Romaní are different because the finds come from a place where Neanderthals lived, slept, cooked, and made tools over the course of some 20,000 years.

“We have a sample of wooden tools for different subsistence activities, not only hunting,” says M. Gema Chacón, an archaeologist at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA) and co-author of the study. Because wood turns up in level after level, it shows that woodworking was routine for Neanderthals rather than an occasional one-off.

Travertine molds

The shelter sits at the foot of a cliff of travertine, a limestone laid down by calcium-rich spring water. As that water dripped across the shelter floor, calcium carbonate settled on anything lying around—logs, leaves, pine cones, and Neanderthal tools. Sealed inside the crust, the wood slowly decomposed, leaving hollow molds. These are perfect negatives of the original objects, sometimes so detailed that the outlines of wood cells are visible under a microscope.

Abric Romaní has been explored continuously since 1983, so the team has had time to develop a method for excavating objects that are essentially empty space. Each find is outlined, mapped, and photographed, and restoration specialists consolidate the fragile crust. “Then we open very carefully one part of the object,” Chacón explains.

In the past, the team filled the hollows with resin or plaster to get a positive cast. “Now all the wooden remains are printed in 3D,” Chacón says. The molds are digitized with 3D scanning and photogrammetry, and the 3D-printed copies are used both for research and museum displays.

Most of the 597 remains turned out to be natural trunks, fallen branches, and lots of firewood, mostly Scots pine. Only 13 objects were made or modified by Neanderthals. “The morphology of these 13 tools is impossible to find in nature,” says Chacón.

Neanderthal housekeeping

Four shallow trays made of juniper bark, the largest 55 by 20 centimeters, were found near hearths. They may have been used to carry food or scoop embers, much like the bark dishes called coolamons used by Aboriginal Australians. Crossed poles over a thick hearth may be the remains of a tripod, possibly for processing food. A branchless pole more than five meters long was found in the innermost part of the shelter.

The imprint pattern at the site suggests Neanderthals used poles to set up shelters. Credit: Hugo Prades / IPHES-CERCA

That pole fits a pattern seen in every level dug so far. Along the back wall, Neanderthals kept a row of small hearths, around 50 centimeters across and spaced a meter or so apart, with almost no debris around them. Chacón suspects these were sleeping hearths. “This gives you illumination and also protects you from possible carnivores or other animals that could attack the group,” she says. The team thinks the pole leaned against the wall to form a windbreak or simple hut, and experiments showed five meters is about the length such a structure needs.

The shelter’s busy end included large, overlapping hearths surrounded by animal bones, stone-knapping debris, and firewood. That’s where food was prepared, tools were made, and, the team thinks, meals were shared.

But there were also weapons.

Spears and a club

The team found a pointed stick and two spears lying close to the antlered skulls of red deer. The best-preserved spear is 2.45 meters long. Chacón says a cast of its point shows an impact fracture identical to those on spears used by Aboriginal Australians. That kind of damage happens when a point strikes bone or something similarly hard. The most surprising find, though, was a club.

The club was carved from a single piece of wood, with a 16-centimeter handle and a pointed, roughly triangular head about 14 centimeters tall. Where the two meet, there is an abrupt right-angle step that may have kept the hand from slipping. The only earlier object hypothesized to be a club has been found in Kalambo Falls in Zambia and is roughly 400,000 years old. According to Chacón, nothing quite like the Romaní club has turned up anywhere.

Anthropologists have observed and documented hunter-gatherer groups over the last couple of centuries and found they used similar clubs to kill game at close range, fight, and sometimes as symbols of social standing. “But when it comes to this club it’s true that we are not sure,” Chacón admits. The club was found in a living area, next to bones, stone tools, and a hearth, so the team hypothesizes it’s been used for everyday work rather than ceremony.

Design ideas

The choice of materials suggests Neanderthals knew their wood. Scots pine is easy to work and dries quickly, so tools were cheap to make and replace. Juniper’s fibrous bark suited the trays. Firewood tended to be dry wood, while tools were made from fresh wood. “When they went to look for wood, it was like when they went to look for stone; they knew exactly what they wanted to make,” says Chacón. “This implies not only planning, but a bit of complexity in the brain to organize your activities.”

That fits a broader shift, as evidence has piled up that Neanderthals twisted fibers into cord, made symbolic objects, and interbred with our species. “Neanderthals are no longer perceived as Homo sapiens’ dumb cousins,” Chacón says. She suggested that the Abric Romaní tools may offer a new perspective to interpret finds at other sites.

“To study all these types of tools properly, you need a lot of time and budget,” Chacón says. Neanderthal tools from Abric Romaní were first described in the 1990s, so it took decades for the team to identify and catalog them. This makes her concerned that insufficient time and funds might have cost us missing similar discoveries elsewhere. “I hear from colleagues telling me ‘perhaps we found something that we thought was wood, we excavated it, we took pictures, but we didn’t keep it,’” she says. “Now they say perhaps it could be a tool.”

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/neanderthal-wooden-tools-from-spain-found-preserved-in-stone/

   Spears

   Neanderthal Woodworking