BICOM

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired a missile yesterday at the al-Yamamah royal palace in Riyadh.

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdul-Salam tweeted yesterday that a ballistic “Volcano H-2” missile was used in the attack.

Saudi-owned channel al-Arabiya reported that Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed the missile. The station also reported that coalition forces carried out airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen’s southern Sanaa in response.

The government-run Centre for International Communication wrote on its Twitter account: “Coalition forces confirm intercepting an Iranian-Houthi missile targeting (the) south of Riyadh. There are no reported casualties at this time”. The Saudis claim that the Houthis are using humanitarian entry points to smuggle Iranian missiles.

Saudi leaders were reportedly in a meeting at the palace at the time of the attack, although there were not reports of any damage following the missiles interception.

The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said last night that the missile was fired earlier in the day towards Saudi Arabia by a Yemen Houthi group  and “bears all the hallmarks of previous attacks using Iranian-provided weapons”.

Last Thursday, Haley claimed that the missiles being fired into Saudi Arabia by the Houthi’s are “Iranian made, these are Iranian sent, and these were Iranian given”. Following Haley’s remarks, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon said that “the Iranian missile threat extends from the Persian Gulf through Yemen and Syria to Lebanon and Gaza”.

Iran has denied supplying Houthis with such weaponry, and described the evidence presented by the US as “fabricated”.

BBC News has reported that UN-brokered talks have failed to end the conflict in Yemen, which has claimed more than 8,600 lives and injured nearly 50,000 since the Saudi-led campaign began. The conflict has also left 20.7m people in need of humanitarian assistance, created the world’s largest food security emergency, and has led to a cholera outbreak that is believed to have affected 884,000 people and caused 2,184 deaths.