Saudi coalition says it downed two cruise missiles fired at Riyadh

RIYADH: A Saudi-led military coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen has announced that it destroyed two cruise missiles fired towards the capital, Riyadh, and the kingdom’s southern regions.

According to the coalition, this was the second missile attack in the past 24 hours to have been foiled. Earlier, the coalition had also claimed to have destroyed two ballistic missiles fired at Riyadh in the air, after which loud explosions were heard in the Saudi capital.

According to a foreign news agency, Saudi civil defence issued an emergency warning in the Riyadh area shortly before the explosions. Authorities later announced that the threat had passed.

Airstrikes in Yemen

The missile attacks come a day after the Houthi-run Yemeni health ministry claimed that at least 33 people had been killed and 39 injured in Saudi airstrikes.

According to the Houthi-run state news agency Saba, homes were targeted in Bani Hushaish, a Houthi stronghold town east of the capital, Sanaa. The agency claimed that most of those killed were women and children.

Abdulaziz al-Deilami, director of Sahtoon Hospital in Sanaa, told a news agency that several victims were still trapped under the rubble, including relief workers. He said strikes continued during rescue operations and some members of the medical staff were also killed.

The injured were taken to hospital in critical condition with severe injuries to the head, chest and legs, and broken bones.