RIYADH: Saudi forces intercepted a Yemeni rebel missile over Riyadh on Sunday, in the latest strike on the capital which coincides with the third anniversary of the Saudi-led coalition's intervention in
Yemen.
The Iran-aligned Huthi rebels claimed their target was Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, with residents reporting loud explosions and bright flashes in the sky shortly before midnight.
Authorities reported no immediate casualties from the attack, which comes after the US defence secretary last week urged Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to Washington to pursue "urgent efforts" to end Yemen's wrenching conflict.
The Huthi-run Al-Masira television channel claimed the rebels also fired multiple missiles at airports in southern Abha, Jizan and Najran provinces, but Saudi state television only reported the attack on Riyadh.
"Saudi air defence forces intercept a missile northeast of Riyadh," Saudi state news channel Al-Akhbariya said in a brief report.
The attack is the latest in a series of Huthi missiles fired at Riyadh since November, all of which Saudi forces say they intercepted.
The first attack, which also targeted Riyadh international airport on November 4, triggered the tightening of a longstanding Saudi-led blockade of Yemen — already on the verge of famine.
Another attack on December 19 targeted Riyadh's Yamamah palace, the official residence of King Salman.
Saudi Arabia has accused its arch foe Iran of supplying the missile to the rebels, a charge Tehran strongly denied.
The Huthis expelled pro-government forces from the capital in September 2014 and went on to seize swathes of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country.
This prompted a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia to intervene in Yemen on March 26, 2015, to help the government push back the Shiite rebels.
Since then, around 10,000 people have been killed and 53,000 wounded in Yemen, triggering what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations says living conditions in the war-scarred country have reached catastrophic levels and that 8.4 million people face imminent famine.
Saudi Arabia and its military allies — armed by the US and Britain — could stand guilty of war crimes, Amnesty International said on Friday.
Numerous rounds of UN-sponsored peace talks have failed to stem the bloodshed in Yemen.
The Huthis plan a huge rally in Sanaa on Monday to mark the war's third anniversary.
The attack is the latest in a series of Huthi missiles fired at Riyadh since November, all of which Saudi forc... Read More
