Missile attack triggers alerts, blasts in Riyadh

Saudi-led coalition says two ballistic missiles intercepted

RIYADH:

RIYADH

The Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday it had destroyed and intercepted two ballistic missiles launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels towards Riyadh, as explosions were heard across the capital and authorities issued alerts warning of a potential aerial threat.

AFP correspondents heard at least eight explosions in Riyadh after residents received a phone alert warning that the city was "under a hostile aerial threat". Saudi civil defence also issued warnings of potential danger in Riyadh, Al Kharj and the southern city of Najran, which were lifted shortly afterwards.

The alerts came amid escalating hostilities between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen's internationally recognised government. The two sides have exchanged daily attacks since a fragile truce collapsed over the summer.

The Houthis on Thursday reported that 12 people had been killed and three others critically injured in what they described as Saudi strikes on residential areas in western Yemen. The group's health ministry said the casualties occurred when homes belonging to two families were targeted in Al-Barah, in Maqbana district.

The claims could not be independently verified. The Houthis had reported at least 14 deaths in Saudi strikes on a petrol station and market on Wednesday, while the group also targeted the airport in Aden, a stronghold of Yemen's internationally recognised government, wounding civilians.

The latest escalation follows a breakdown of the 2022 truce in July, after the Houthis allowed an Iranian plane to land in Sanaa in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace. The move triggered renewed attacks, with the rebels subsequently targeting Saudi territory, shipping and oil facilities.

The Houthis have also intensified attacks on Saudi Arabia, including strikes on Riyadh airport that forced its closure for two weeks and prompted the cancellation of major events, threatening the kingdom's economic diversification plans.

Yemen has endured conflict since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the government. More than 1,600 people have been killed and over 275,000 displaced since hostilities resumed, according to United Nations figures.