Saudi coalition says intercepted Houthi drones headed for Riyadh

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthis said on Saturday it had intercepted drones and ballistic missiles, as the Iran-backed group launched fresh attacks, including on Riyadh, despite international condemnation.

The strikes were the latest in a series of escalating Houthi attacks since July, when renewed hostilities shattered a years-long truce and embroiled Yemen in the wider Middle East war.

The United Nations Security Council earlier condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, noting that the strikes have wounded “civilians, including women and children.”

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The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers, seizing swathes of Yemen’s Red Sea coast vital for oil exports and causing energy prices to jump, while also raining missiles on the kingdom.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said on Saturday its air defences “intercepted and destroyed two drones launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards the Riyadh area.”

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Saudi air defences also intercepted and destroyed two Houthi-launched ballistic missiles targeting Khamis Mushait, a city in the country’s southwest that is home to an air base, the spokesman said.

Hezam Al-Assad, a member of the Houthi Political Bureau, said on Saturday that “Despite the operation’s strength, scope, and impact, our armed forces view it as merely a small-scale rehearsal for a full-scale escalation.”

Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, denounced the Houthi attacks on Saturday.

“This dangerous escalation constitutes a flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s sovereignty and poses a direct threat to the security and safety of civilians and the stability of the region,” he said in a statement.

Albudaiwi also called on the international community to “adopt a firm stance” to end the attacks and hold the Houthis accountable.

On Friday, the head of Yemen’s governing body, Rashad al-Alimi, called for a general mobilisation to counter the Houthi offensive.

A ground campaign being waged by Houthi forces against Yemeni forces is threatening a humanitarian crisis, with 138,000 people displaced across Yemen since August, 70,000 children among them, according to the United Nations.

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