Saudi-led coalition says defences intercept Houthi missile fired at Riyadh

According to Saudi-led coalition forces fighting Yemen's Houthis have, the Iran-backed group fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn before it was intercepted and destroyed.

Key points

• The army additionally stated 13 Yemeni soldiers were killed in two days of clashes with Houthi forces in the southwestern provinces of Taiz and Lahj.
• Jordan, the United Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) condemned the attacks.
• It was the first air raid alert sounded in Riyadh since an escalation in fighting with the Houthis in Yemen began in July.
• According to The Saudi spokesperson, the Houthis are escalating their attempts to target civilians and civilian infrastructure in the capital.
• Saree remarked the Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia with cruise and ballistic missiles as well as drones.

"The Houthis also attempted to target civilians and civilian infrastructure in Bisha, Taif, Farasan and Yanbu, " coalition forces spokesperson Major-General Turki al-Maliki wrote on X on Saturday, adding that the attacks were thwarted by the Gulf monarchy's air defences.

Saudi Arabia cautioned of a "hostile aerial threat" and issued a string of emergency alerts throughout the kingdom overnight on Friday.

On Saturday, at least one explosion was heard in Riyadh, with residents near the airport saying they saw a sizeable plume of black smoke afterwards in the morning. Saudi authorities documented no casualties or damage.

According to The Saudi spokesperson, the Houthis are escalating their attempts to target civilians and civilian infrastructure in the capital. He additionally affirmed the coalition command's right to take "appropriate" action to deter the Houthis, in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Earlier on Saturday, Houthi fighters in Yemen remarked they attacked "sensitive" sites in Riyadh as well as an Aramco oil facility in the western coastal city of Yanbu, according to a statement shared by Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree.

"You could see that the Houthis are determining the timelines and the levels of the escalation, " Yasmeen al-Eryani, executive director for knowledge production at the Sana'a Center think tank, informed Al Jazeera. "So, depending on the current situation, it seems that the Houthis are the ones in control, " she continued.

Meanwhile, on the ground in Yemen, the armed forces of the Saudi-backed internationally recognised administration stated their fighters thwarted a Houthi infiltration attempt in the al-Fuliahan sector in southern Marib on Saturday, killing 12 Houthi fighters and injuring others.

In practice, the army additionally stated 13 Yemeni soldiers were killed in two days of clashes with Houthi forces in the southwestern provinces of Taiz and Lahj.

Renewed clashes are taking place in Yemen's Marib, Taiz, Lahj, al-Jawf and al-Bayda as part of a military escalation that began in early July – the most intense since the relative calm after an April 2022 truce.

Al-Eryani informed Al Jazeera that military options against the Houthis are at present limited since much of the fighting is taking place in mountainous terrain that is challenging for opposing forces to access and hold.

For now, she remarked, containing the group may be a more realistic option than defeating it militarily. "Without controlling the peaks that are parallel to the coast, you will not be able to control the coast, " remarked al-Eryani.

In an official note published on Saturday, Jordan's Foreign Ministry called the attacks a "blatant violation". Ministry spokesperson Fouad Majali remarked Jordan stood in "absolute solidarity" with Saudi Arabia.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and GCC Secretary-General Jassim al-Budaiwi, speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Saturday, condemned the targeting of civilian objects and the threat to security and stability in the region.

In short, saudi-led coalition says defences intercept Houthi missile fired at Riyadh is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.