Ballistic missile fired over Riyadh, three blasts heard

Ballistic missile fired over Riyadh, three blasts heard

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia´s air defence forces intercepted a ballistic missile over Riyadh on Wednesday, state media said, after at least three blasts were heard and three clouds of smoke were seen in the sky above the capital.

Yemen´s Houthis has stepped up missile attacks on the kingdom in what it says is retaliation for air raids by a Saudi-led coalition fighting the armed movement.

One man was killed in Riyadh last month by debris after the military shot down a flurry of missiles, the first casualty of the Yemen war in the Saudi capital.

Saudi Arabia and a coalition of mostly Gulf Arab states intervened in Yemen´s civil war in 2015 to try and push back the Houthis after the movement drove the internationally recognized government into Saudi exile.

The attack on Wednesday marked the fourth time in five months that missiles have flown over Riyadh, as the Houthis step up efforts to demonstrate they can reach the Saudi capital.