A missile alert interrupted a speech by a Saudi minister, Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al Rajhi, while he was addressing an economic forum in Riyadh on Monday, amid escalating Houthi attacks on the kingdom.

The incident occurred at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Centre, when warning notifications sounded simultaneously on the minister’s phone and those of audience members.

Al Rajhi, the human resources and social development minister, briefly acknowledged the alerts before calmly continuing his speech.

“We are under the protection of the Lord of the Worlds. God willing, may God turn their plot back upon them,” he told the audience.

The interruption came after two consecutive Houthi attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh over the weekend, which killed more than a dozen people, including several foreign nationals.

Residents reported hearing several powerful explosions in the Saudi capital on Monday night, according to Al Jazeera. The Saudi military said its air defenses had intercepted at least one Houthi ballistic missile targeting Riyadh, along with two additional projectiles launched toward the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait.

Saudi Arabia’s aviation authority announced on Monday that Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport would remain closed until October 17 following the deadly strikes.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack. In an exclusive interview with RT, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a spokesperson for the group, described the strike as retaliation for years of Saudi bombardment of Yemen’s civilian infrastructure.

He warned that the Houthis would continue targeting Saudi military facilities and critical infrastructure until Riyadh ended its involvement in Yemen, lifted its blockade and agreed to a “comprehensive and permanent peace.” 

Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015, leading a military coalition supporting the internationally recognized government against the Houthis.

Large-scale fighting largely subsided following a UN-brokered truce in 2022 but flared up again in July after Saudi-backed Yemeni forces struck the Houthi-held Sanaa Airport.

Last month, the Houthis seized large stretches of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and territory around the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, including the port of Mocha.

Saudi-backed government forces have since launched a counteroffensive, claiming to have recaptured key positions near the vital shipping route connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Riyadh has stepped up its air support for the offensive, intensifying strikes on Houthi-held territory in recent days. According to the group, Saudi bombardments have killed nearly 400 people since early September, many of them civilians.