Saudi-led coalition intercepts Houthi missile launched towards Riyadh

What the report says

Saudi Arabia said its air defence and coalition forces intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh, with the coalition announcing the missile had been destroyed. Saudi civil defence later said it had issued alerts for parts of Riyadh province and the capital through its early warning system, then said the danger had passed. The report places the incident amid a sharp rise in cross-border attacks linked to the conflict in Yemen.

According to Al Jazeera’s account, the Houthis also said they carried out additional strikes on Saudi targets, including facilities tied to the state oil company Aramco and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Saudi authorities separately confirmed that an Aramco administrative building in Dhahran was hit. The article says earlier attacks on the airport killed 14 people and injured hundreds, though it does not attribute that toll to this specific missile interception.

The development comes as fighting between the Iran-aligned Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has intensified after a ceasefire largely held since 2022. The article notes that Saudi-backed forces have also launched operations in Yemen near the Bab al-Mandeb area. In broader context, the strikes underscore the regional spillover from Yemen’s war and the vulnerability of Saudi civilian and energy infrastructure.