Riyadh intercepts first Houthi missile since July

The Saudi-led military coalition announced Sunday that it had intercepted a missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels toward Riyadh, where explosions were heard at dawn, the first such incident since hostilities resumed between the kingdom and the Iran-backed fighters.

Saudi Arabia's air force "successfully intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi terrorist militia towards the city of Riyadh at dawn," coalition spokesman Major-General Turki al-Maliki said. He added that the Houthis also attempted to strike civilians and civilian infrastructure in Bisha, Taif, the Farasan Islands and Yanbu, attacks that Saudi air defenses likewise thwarted.

Saudi authorities had issued emergency phone alerts overnight in Riyadh and the nearby city of Al-Kharj, warning of a "hostile aerial threat," before later announcing the danger had passed. 

Residents in the capital reported hearing at least one explosion, and a plume of black smoke was later seen rising near King Khalid International Airport, where firefighters extinguished a fire at a fuel depot bearing the Aramco logo. Saudi authorities reported no casualties or damage.

For their part, the Houthis claimed responsibility for what their military spokesman, Yahya Saree, described as "two successful military operations using a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones », one targeting "sensitive sites" in Riyadh, the other striking Aramco facilities in Yanbu.

Saudi Arabia has faced escalating Houthi attacks in recent days, as the group, which controls large parts of neighboring Yemen and is fighting Yemeni government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition, presses a rapid offensive that has seized swathes of territory in recent weeks. Saturday's alert was the first sounded in Riyadh since the latest escalation in fighting began in July.