Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it intercepted a ballistic missile south of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, fired by a rebel group in neighbouring Yemen, possibly raising regional tensions amid Saudi claims that Iran is supplying the rebel factions with weapons, the Washington Post reports. The missile incursion marked the second time the rebels, known as the Houthis, had targeted Riyadh in the past two months. The Yemeni rebels say they targeted the Royal Palace in Riyadh.
The claim that the missile was intercepted, carried by Saudi state-run media, could not be immediately be confirmed. Witnesses in Riyadh described hearing a loud boom and pictures that circulated on social media showed a plume of smoke in the sky. The backdrop to the attack was the nearly three-year-old, multisided war in Yemen between the Houthis and a Saudi-led military coalition that is backed by the United States.
Increasingly, the conflict is seen as a proxy battle between Saudi and its Western allies and Iran. Saudi and U.S. officials have accused Iran of supplying the Houthis with weapons, including ballistic missiles that were used in recent strikes on Saudi territory, a charge Iran has denied.
The Trump Administration has tried to use the accusations of weapons transfers to intensify international pressure on Iran.
Last week, in a news conference that used the missile remnants as a backdrop, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the weaponry amounted to “undeniable” proof of Iran’s deepening involvement in Yemen.
