Yemenupdated 15m ago2 min read
Saudi Air Defenses Intercept Houthi Ballistic Missile Over Riyadh After Explosions
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Houthis claim targeted Riyadh's Ministry of Defense with a ballistic missile. Saudi-led coalition intercepts and destroys the ballistic missile toward Riyadh.
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“these claims have not been independently verified”
“while also reporting around 20 strikes on Mocha.”
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Riyadh blasts and missile
Two loud explosions were heard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, early Saturday after Saudi Civil Defense issued an early warning about a hostile aerial threat. The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said it intercepted a ballistic missile launched toward Riyadh by the Iran-backed group, and it said its air defenses destroyed the missile.
Turki al-Maliki said, “The air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi terrorist militia toward Riyadh,” while he also said a drone was intercepted in the country’s Eastern Province. The Global Times report said “Loud explosions were heard in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, early Friday,” and it said local residents received alerts via mobile apps.
Sanaa and Mocha casualties
Houthi media said Saudi airstrikes against Sanaa and the region of the capital they control left at least four dead and several wounded, and it also confirmed about twenty bombings against Mocha. Al Masirah reported a “series of attacks by the Saudi enemy against the capital, Sanaa” and “twenty bombings against Mocha since this morning,” while it also reported an attack on a house in the Asir suburb west of Sanaa.
Al Masirah also reported that eight people died in another bombing against a cement factory in Hamdan, northwest of the capital, and it said the victims were mostly women and children. The DiarioBitcoin account said Huthi media reported 11 dead in airstrikes attributed to Saudi Arabia in the Sana’a governorate, including six women and a child, after the coalition said it intercepted two missiles aimed at Saudi cities.
Escalation and what next
Saudi Civil Defense issued alerts that were quickly lifted, warning of a “potential risk” in four western regions of the country, including Taif, Yanbu, and Mecca. Turki al-Maliki posted on X that “Air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi terrorist militia toward Riyadh,” and he added that a drone was also intercepted in the country’s Eastern Province.
The Yemen conflict context in the sources tied the renewed violence to July, after a ceasefire in 2022, and it said fighting resumed in July amid an escalation of the conflict in the region. The PressTV account said a spokesman for Yemen’s armed forces reported that Saudi Arabia carried out 124 air and missile attacks in the previous 24 hours, and it put the total number of attacks since the escalation began at 3,024.