Saudi Arabia intercepts three MISSILES over Riyadh as EXPLOSIONS rock capital

The missile attack is being blamed on Iran-backed anti-western Islamists known as the Houthis, based in neighbouring Yemen.

Saudi air defences were reported as having intercepted three missiles flying over the capital Riyadh and the southern cities of Jizan and Najran.

Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya TV confirmed Saudi Arabia had been forced to intercept the weapons as it headed towards the southern city of Jizan.

In a statement, the Saudi-led coalition said it was blown up over Najran. 

One of the targets of the strikes was the Saudi Defence Ministry in the capital, the armed group's Al Masirah TV said on Twitter. 

Yemen's Houthis claimed to have also targeted a Saudi Aramco distribution facility. 

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. 

Al Arabiya said earlier that Saudi air defence forces had intercepted a missile over Riyadh after at least three blasts were heard in the capital. 

This is the fourth time in five months that missiles have flown over Riyadh. 

Amid rising tensions in the region the Houthis want to demonstrate they can reach the Saudi capital.

Experts on the region warn the rebel group’s actions could escalate into a war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Previous attacks cost Yemen dearly as a Saudi-led coalition of Middle Eastern states launched air strikes in the country which killed hundreds. 

The United Nations estimated that 10,000 people have died in the three-year-old war and said that more than 22 million civilians need relief aid.

The missiles followed the downing of two Houthi drones earlier today in Jizan and the nearby Saudi city of Abha, the coalition said.

Last month the Saudi army intercepted seven missiles over Riyadh launched by the rebels. 

The falling debris from those missiles killed one Egyptian man, who became the first victim on Saudi ground since the beginning of the conflict in 2015. 

Al Arabiya broadcaster reported that the attack was “launched indiscriminately to target civilian areas and population”. 

The Saudis claimed to have intercepted and destroyed all the missiles with their air defence systems.  

The Yemeni government, which has been fighting the Houthi militia since the 1990s, blamed the rebels for the missile attacks. 

The Saudi-led coalition accuses the Houthis of being armed and supported by Iran, charges that both the group and Tehran deny.

It stated: "While the Yemeni government expresses its strong condemnation of this criminal and terrorist act of Iran and its tools represented by the Houthi militia, the government also praised the high efficiency and capabilities of the Saudi Air Defence Forces in intercepting and destroying Iran's ballistic missiles.” 

The Houthis, officially called Ansar Allah, are members of an armed Islamic movement that emerged in the north of Yemen in the 1990s. 

Tensions between the group and the central government of Yemen started to rise in the 1990s and broke out in 2004, when its founder Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi led a rebellion against the then President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Since last year, the rebel group has been led by al-Houthi's brother, Abdul-Malik.  

The US also condemned previous attacks launched by the Yemenite rebels. 

Last March, Washington said that it supported “the right of our Saudi partners to defend their borders against these threats”. 

The strikes come amid growing tensions in the Middle East that could drag Western countries into a war against Syria-backing Russia. 

Syrian rebels accused the country leader Bashar al-Assad of using chemical weapons during raids between April 7-9. 

Reports suggested more than 500 people, mostly women and children, were taken to medical centres with difficulty breathing, foaming at the mouth and burning sensations in the eyes.

The attack comes almost exactly a year after a chemical atrocity in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun killed dozens of people. 

US President Donald Trump announced the country will respond to the attack. 

He wrote on Twitter: "Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"

"Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?"

On April 10 the US and Russia blocked each other's attempts to launch an international investigation into possible chemical attacks in Syria during a meeting of the UN Security Council. 

Mr Trump, backed by Britain and France, has proposed military action against the Syrian regime in response to the suspected chemical attack. 

Fears that a conflict between Russia and the US in Syria could set the entire Middle East region "on fire" have been voiced by Turkey's defence minister Nurettin Canikli.