Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed to have fired the missile in response to Saudi and American "aggression." The incident came hours before a suicide attack in the southern Yemeni city of Aden killed at least five soldiers.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Loeb
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Saudi Arabia's air defense forces on Saturday evening intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen toward the kingdom's international airport near the capital, Riyadh, state media reported.
The missile was shot down and scattered debris over an uninhabited area without causing damage or casualties.
The kingdom's civil aviation authority said flights were unaffected at the King Khalid International Airport, located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) outside the capital.
Media tied to Yemen's Houthi rebels, including al-Masira, claimed a short-range Burkan H2 missile was fired in response to "Saudi-American aggression and crimes against the people of Yemen."
Houthi rebels have fired dozens of missiles towards Saudi Arabia, but this is the first time Riyadh has been targeted. Riyadh is about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) north of the border with Yemen.
Quagmire and disaster
A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 in a bid to oust Houthi rebels allied with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh after they overran the capital Sanaa and large swaths of the country.
Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Yemen has struggled to cope with crises prompted by its atrocious civil war, including catastrophic hunger and devastating cholera outbreaks. DW examines the conflict and how it affects the country's civilian population.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
War: The 'root cause' of Yemen's disasters
The UN has identified conflict as the "root cause" of Yemen's crises. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the war erupted in 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels launched a campaign to capture the capital, Sanaa. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched a deadly campaign against the rebels, one that has been widely criticized by human rights groups for its high civilian death toll.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Fighting keeps food from the famished
The conflict has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching large parts of the civilian population, resulting in more than two-thirds of the country's 28 million people being classified as "food insecure." Nearly 3 million children and pregnant or nursing women are acutely malnourished, according to the UN World Food Program.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Displacement: Converging crises
More than 3 million people have been displaced by conflict, including marginalized communities such as the "Muhammasheen," a minority tribe that originally migrated from Africa. Despite the civil war, many flee conflict in Somalia and head to Yemen, marking the convergence of two major migration crises in the Middle East nation. Yemen hosts around 250,000 Somali refugees, according to UNHCR.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Cholera: A deadly epidemic
The number of suspected cholera cases has exceeded more than 2 million and least 3,700 people have died from the waterborne bacterial infection in Yemen since October 2019, said the WHO. Although cholera can be easily treated, it can kill within hours when untreated.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
Unsuspecting victims of the'war on terror'
In Yemen, violence goes beyond civil conflict: It is considered a strategic front in the war on terrorism. The country serves as the operational base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, dubbed the "most dangerous" terrorist group before the rise of the "Islamic State." The US routinely uses drones to target al-Qaida leadership. However, civilians have often been killed in the operations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Arhab
Children's fate: Future marred by tragedy
In a country paralyzed by conflict, children are one of the most at-risk groups in Yemen. More than 12 million children require humanitarian aid, according to the UN humanitarian coordination agency. The country's education system is "on the brink of collapse," while children are dying of "preventable causes like malnutrition, diarrhea and respiratory tract infections," according to the agency.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Peace: An elusive future
Despite several attempts at UN-backed peace talks, the conflict continues to rage on. Saudi Arabia has vowed to continue supporting the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. On the other hand, Houthi rebels have demanded the formation of a unity government in order to move forward on a political solution. A peace deal, however, remains elusive.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
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The Saudi-led coalition is trying to restore power to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and counter what they say is Iranian influence in Saudi Arabia's backyard.
Riyadh claims the Shiite Houthi rebels are backed by its regional rival Iran. Tehran denies the charges and says it provides only political support.
More than two years on, the war against Houthi rebels has turned into a quagmire for the kingdom and its Arab allies.
Suicide attack in Aden
Meanwhile, in an attack that underscores the violence of the ongoing conflict in Yemen, five soldiers were killed on Sunday in an assault on a security headquarters in the southern city of Aden.
A security official said an explosives-laden car first blew up outside the headquarters in the central district of Khor Maksar.
Image: DW
A suicide bomber then detonated an explosive belt at the entrance to the building, while gunmen stormed the crime unit, setting files and archives on fire, he said.
It was unclear who was behind the attack, though the official blamed it on al Qaeda operatives.
The port city of Aden has been the interim headquarters of Yemen's internationally recognized government since 2015, after it was forced to move following the Houthi takeover of Sanaa.
