Houthis missiles target Saudi capital

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia faced a flurry of attempted attacks by Yemen’s rebels on Wednesday, with the kingdom’s defense forces saying they intercepted missiles that targeted Riyadh and another city, and drones targeting an airport and an Aramco oil facility in the country’s south.

The attacks underscore how the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, continue to retain a range of potentially lethal and disruptive ways to hit the kingdom, despite more than three years of devastating Saudi airstrikes on Yemen to try and roll back Houthi control of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and other northern strongholds.

The strikes by the rebels in neighboring Yemen came just days before Saudi Arabia is to host heads of state and dignitaries for the annual Arab League summit, which will be held this year in the eastern Saudi city of Dammam. The location may have been selected by the kingdom to avoid Houthi missile strikes during Sunday’s summit.

Saudi state-run TV channel al-Ekhbariya carried an official statement saying the kingdom’s defense forces intercepted missiles fired at Riyadh and the southern city of Jizan.

The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV channel said the ballistic missiles targeted the Saudi Defense Ministry in Riyadh, among other targets in the kingdom’s capital.

An Associated Press reporter in Riyadh heard three loud explosions overhead just before sunset Wednesday. Other residents of the capital posted on social media similar accounts of hearing loud explosions and seeing smoke in the sky from the possible missile interception.

Saudi forces said they also destroyed two Houthi drones targeting the cities of Jizan and the airport in Abha, also near the border with Yemen.

Saudi officials said flights were temporarily suspended at Abha airport in line with safety procedures. At least one Saudi media outlet reported a drone crash at the airport had injured two airport workers.

The kingdom and its allies, with support from the United States, have been at war in Yemen since March 2015. More than 10,000 Yemenis have died in the conflict and millions in the impoverished country have been pushed to the brink of famine.