The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen has said its forces intercepted another ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the Saudi capital, Riyadh, as the city reels from attacks that have killed at least 14 people in recent days.<\/p>\n
In a statement on X, Turki Al-Maliki, the spokesperson for the coalition, said the Houthis fired one ballistic missile at Riyadh and two towards Khamis Mushait, a city in the southwest.<\/p>\n
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All three were \u201cintercepted and destroyed\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
Residents of Riyadh reported several powerful explosions on Monday night, moments after a text message to their phones warned of an aerial threat.<\/p>\n
The Houthis, who control Yemen\u2019s most populous areas, including the capital, Sanaa, said their target in Riyadh had been King Khalid International airport.<\/p>\n
Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said the group had also sent a drone towards a military airbase at Khamis Mushait, near the Yemeni border. He again warned international airlines and travellers \u201cagainst operating flights to airports\u201d in Saudi Arabia, except in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, saying the facilities were \u201cunsafe\u201d.<\/p>\n
The renewed attacks came as King Khalid International airport in Riyadh remains closed after a Houthi attack on Saturday that killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 300 others. Another strike on Sunday killed one person and wounded 11.<\/p>\n
Saudi authorities said the airport would remain closed until this Saturday, and airlines have canceled flights. The Houthis have also struck Saudi oil facilities.<\/p>\n
The attacks come as the Houthis fight forces aligned with Yemen\u2019s internationally recognised government for control of the country. The Saudi-led coalition has carried out an air campaign against the Houthis and backed the government\u2019s ground forces. The fighting erupted amid regional tensions set off by the United States and Israel\u2019s war on Iran.<\/p>\n
Speaking at an energy conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud said the attacks on airports over the last week have tested the kingdom\u2019s resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe events of recent weeks are serious,\u201d the minister said. \u201cOur response must be equally serious.\u201d He added that Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s plan to diversify the Saudi economy, \u201cmust continue. Investment must continue\u201d.<\/p>\n
Saudi authorities have meanwhile opened an investigation into why the country\u2019s air defences failed to stop the barrage, according to two regional officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. An initial inquiry found that the Houthis first launched several drones to clear a path for a mix of cruise and ballistic missiles, which then reached the airport, the officials said.<\/p>\n
The Houthis possess ballistic missiles with warheads that can change direction in flight, posing a challenge to the Patriot interceptors and other systems the Saudis rely on.<\/p>\n
One official told AP that investigators also wanted to know why the defences had not given earlier warning of an attack in which missiles and drones flew more than 1,000km, or 620 miles, to reach Riyadh.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump separately criticised the Houthis but gave no indication that Washington would intervene. \u201cWell, the Houthis are misbehaving very badly. No good,\u201d he told reporters when asked what he planned to do about the group.<\/p>\n
A Houthi official warned that US involvement would bring retaliation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the US becomes involved in the aggression against Yemen, we will not deliberate over the decision to respond; rather, there will be a swift and painful response targeting the US and all its interests in the region,\u201d Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis\u2019 political bureau, told the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n
Al-Bukhaiti also warned \u201call employees and workers at Saudi oil facilities and airports to stay away from these sites, as they have become legitimate targets\u201d.<\/p>\n
The attacks have put events scheduled in Riyadh this month under pressure, including the kingdom\u2019s flagship investment conference and the WPC Energy Congress, where several top oil executives were dropped from the programme.<\/p>\n
The United Arab Emirates\u2019s national carrier Etihad Airways announced on Monday that it was cancelling all flights to and from Riyadh until next week. It also suspended flights to Dammam and Jeddah.<\/p>\n
Bahrain\u2019s national carrier Gulf Air said it, too, was cancelling all Riyadh flights until Saturday.<\/p>\n
US operator Delta announced it would delay the launch of direct flights from Atlanta to Riyadh, scheduled for October 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen has said its forces intercepted another ballistic missile launched by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,8954,47,2899,43,16755,78,40,38,41,39,1032,2893],"class_list":["post-644713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-houthis","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-news","tag-oil-and-gas","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states","tag-yemen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}