Saudi-Led Coalition Intercepts Houthi Missile Aimed At Riyadh
Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh on Sunday, as the capital’s airport prepares to resume flights.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said on Sunday that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the group toward the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
“Air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward Riyadh,” the coalition said in a post on X. The post was shared by Colonel Turki al-Maliki, the official spokesman for the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen.
In two earlier posts, the coalition also reported intercepting and destroying a drone in the Riyadh area. The posts, which appeared hours before the missile announcement, did not say who launched the drones.
Saudi Arabia, which leads a military coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthis, has faced a barrage of strikes from the group in recent weeks.
The fighting erupted after a years-long truce between the Houthis and Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government fell apart. It has shifted the focus of the wider US-Iran war.
Riyadh’s international airport said flights would resume on Sunday after a two-week closure that followed the Houthi strikes. The Flight Radar monitoring site showed a plane taking off early in the day.
The Houthis have carried out waves of strikes on the airport, including an attack this month that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. It was the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree warned that the facility was still “unsafe” and a “military target.”
“The Yemeni Armed Forces warn all international, regional and local airlines, as well as staff and travelers, against using King Khalid Airport in Riyadh, as it is unsafe and serves as a military target for our forces,” he said. “The Saudi regime shall bear the consequences of any operations at the airport.”
Condemnation over Mecca and Medina
Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudais, president of the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, condemned Houthi attacks targeting Mecca and Medina on Sunday.
He called them a flagrant violation of the sanctities of the two holy cities, a breach of Islamic law, and an act devoid of conscience.
“This criminal act is a flagrant violation of the sanctities of Mecca and Medina, as well as a violation of the principles of Islamic sharia which has prohibited transgression and desecration of sanctities and made their protection and preservation an obligation,” Sudais said.
His remarks followed an announcement by Saudi civil defense on Saturday, that it had intercepted two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis toward Saudi Arabia.
Civil defense said debris from the intercepted missiles fell on both Mecca and Medina, which attract millions of pilgrims annually. The incident drew condemnation from religious authorities.
Sudais said the repeated targeting of the two cities reveals the “criminal nature and vile intentions” of what he called a terrorist militia and exposes its disrespect for the status of the holy sites in the hearts of Muslims.
“These violations are contrary to the sacred principles and values of Islam and represent, without any mercy or conscience, an assault on the sanctities,” he said.
He described attacks on holy sites, citizens, and institutions as prohibited under Islamic sharia and condemned internationally, and as contrary to international conventions and norms.
He said the attacks will not, God willing, affect the security and stability of Saudi Arabia, and will only strengthen the will of the country’s leadership and people to protect the sanctities and ensure the security of the holy mosques and the safety of their visitors.
Sudais praised the Saudi leadership’s efforts to protect the two holy mosques and defend Islamic sanctities.
He stressed that the security of the holy mosques is a red line that will not be allowed to be crossed, and that Saudi Arabia will continue to serve the two holy mosques and protect Islamic sanctities.
The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said last week that Saudi Arabia’s security is inseparable from the security of all GCC member states. He called for a clear international position on what he described as Houthi crimes.