Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi-launched missile over Riyadh

Saudi Arabia’s air defences intercepted two ballistic missiles above capital, Riyadh, and the southern city of Jizan.
The attack is the first on the kindom’s capital in more than a year. A coalition spokesman blamed the assaults on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and added the missiles were destroyed.
Two civilians were slightly injured due to the falling of the intercepted missile’s debris as it exploded in mid-air over residential districts, local media reported. A Saudi-owned television said US Patriot missile defence systems were used in the interception.
A military spokesman for Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday said the group’s forces launched rockets and drones at “sensitive” sites in Riyadh and at economic and military sites in Jazan, Najran and Asir, near the Yemeni border.
Yemen has been torn by conflict since 2014, when Houthi rebels seized the capital and ousted the government of president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The legitimate forces in Yemen are backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition in the fight against the Houthi militias. Over 100,000 people were killed in the Yemeni war and more than 3 million were displaced since the beginning of the war.
Last week, the United Nations’ chief Antonio Guterres appealed for a global ceasefire to protect civilians in conflict zones during the coronavirus pandemic. Experts say the virus could be catastrophic for Yemen as the country is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and struggles with a broken healthcare system.