Yemen's Houthi rebels on Tuesday claimed they had carried out their largest-ever offensive against Saudi Arabia, targeting the defence ministry and a military base in Riyadh, after the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed missiles and drones fired from Sana'a.
In a statement published by the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV, the Iran-aligned group claimed they also targeted military sites in other cities including Jazan and Najran in the south, close to the border with Yeman where a civil war is raging.
"A large number of winged ballistic missiles and drones targeted the capital of the Saudi enemy ... pounding military headquarters and centres including the defence and intelligence ministry and [King] Salman Air Base," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech.
A Reuters News Agency witness in the capital heard two loud blasts and saw billows of smoke in the sky over Riyadh close to dawn. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The comments came after the coalition said on Tuesday morning its forces had intercepted several bomb-laden drones and ballistic missiles.
Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency as saying: "Joint coalition forces managed ... to intercept and destroy a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia from Sanaa towards Riyadh in a deliberate hostile operation."
The Saudi military said it also brought down "eight booby-trapped unmanned aircraft to target civilian objects and civilians in the kingdom", as well as "three ballistic missiles from Saada governorate towards the kingdom".
'Big escalation'
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mamoun Abu-Nowar - a retired Jordanian air force general - said the latest developments is reason enough to make Saudi Arabia insecure about its military prowess - despite Riyadh's claims of intercepting missiles.
"Reaching Riyadh with that accuracy and targeting the ministry of defence and some other military [base] is a big escalation because the Houthis are winning now in Jawf and some parts in Yemen," he said, speaking from Amman.
"This makes the Saudis insecure and unstable for any investment in the future and it's a big threat for the Saudi defence air system which I feel is a bit weak to intercept such missiles," he continued. "They need the THAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defence] system which intercepts missiles beyond the atmosphere."
The attack came after Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that Yemen's southern separatists - backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the country's internationally-recognised government - agreed to a ceasefire after months of infighting.
The agreement aims to close the rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, nominal allies in the war against the Houthis.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an alliance to fight the Houthis in Yemen since March 2015 in a bid to restore the internationally recognised government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Violence between the two sides has surged after the expiry last month of a six-week ceasefire prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. The coalition has responded to cross-border Houthi missile and drone attacks with air strikes.
Saudi Arabia was targeted with dozens of attacks using ballistic missiles or drones last year, including a devastating raid on oil giant Aramco's facilities that temporarily knocked out half the kingdom's crude output.
The attack was claimed by the Houthis, but the United States said it involved cruise missiles originating from Iran.
Yemen has been locked in conflict since 2014 when the Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, and went on to seize much of the north.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...allistic-missiles-drones-200623073541760.html
