Saudi Arabia blocks missile fired at Riyadh

It’s the second time Iran-backed rebels in Yemen have attacked

ISTANBUL — Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it intercepted a ballistic missile south of its capital that was fired by a rebel group in neighboring Yemen, raising regional tensions amid Saudi claims that Iran is behind a string of similar attacks while supplying the rebel fighters with weapons.

The attempted missile strike marked the second time that the rebels, known as Houthis, have targeted Riyadh since early November in retaliation for Saudi-led attacks seeking to break the rebels’ grip on parts of Yemen.

Col. Turki al-Malki, a Saudi coalition spokesman, said in a statement that the missile was heading toward “populated residential areas” when it was intercepted and destroyed south of Riyadh. Witnesses described hearing a loud boom, and images on social media showed a plume of smoke in the sky.

A Houthi spokesman, writing on Twitter, said the missile, known as a Volcano H-2, was aimed at a royal palace in Riyadh.

The immediate backdrop to the attack was the nearly 3-yearold war in Yemen between the Houthis and a Saudi-led military coalition backed by the United States. The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced millions, sparked one of the worst cholera outbreaks in history and led to fears of a famine in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.

But increasingly, the conflict is seen as a proxy battle pitting Saudi Arabia and its Western allies against Iran, raising fears that developments in Yemen could escalate into a wider regional conflict. Saudi and U.S. officials have sought to portray the Houthi missile attacks as distinct from Yemen’s civil war, framing them instead as part of what they say is Iran’s unprovoked and aggressive expansion in the Middle East.

The fighting in Yemen has only intensified in the past few weeks.

The Saudi-led coalition and its affiliates on the ground, sensing an opportunity, have mounted a multipronged offensive on Houthi-held territory.

Saudi and U.S. officials have accused Iran of supplying the Houthis with weapons, including ballistic missiles fired across the Saudi border — a charge that Iran has denied.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has tried to use the accusations of weapons transfers to intensify international pressure on Iran.