Coalition says it shot down Houthi missile headed for Riyadh — Al Jazeera

The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile that the Houthis launched toward Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. As Al Jazeera reports, coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Maliki announced that the attack had been repelled on Wednesday.

Warning for Riyadh

Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Civil Defense issued two warnings through the national early warning platform. One concerned Al-Kharj governorate in Riyadh Province, while the other concerned the capital itself. The agency later said the danger had passed.

The Houthi group, also known as Ansar Allah, said it had attacked facilities of the national oil company Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, the Aramco oil refinery in Riyadh, and King Khalid International Airport. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy confirmed overnight that an administrative building of Aramco in Dhahran had been hit.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Escalation of hostilities

The attack came days after two strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. According to the outlet, 14 people were killed and more than 300 others were injured in attacks last weekend. Strikes on other airports were also reported, including Abha International Airport, where two people were killed, as well as on Aramco facilities.

Meanwhile, forces of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government launched a counteroffensive to retake from the Houthis coastal territories near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV channel reported four airstrikes on the Harib district in Marib governorate; the consequences of those strikes were not immediately known.

Hostilities between the Houthis, described in the report as Iran’s allies, and Yemen’s government forces sharply escalated last month. This shattered a UN-mediated truce that had largely held since 2022.