Saudi Arabia said it succeeded in destroying a missile fired by Houthi rebels targeting the Yamamah palace, the official residence of King Salman.
The Houthis’ Al Masirah TV said the missile was targeting the palace to project power and to mark the 1000-day anniversary since the Saudi-led coalition started bombing Yemen.
“This is our answer to them and to the whole world,” Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the rebels’ leader, said in a televised address.
A spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition confirmed that a US-supplied Patriot batteries intercepted the Burkan-2 missile fired by the Houthis.
Witnesses in the Saudi capital said they had heard an explosion and posted videos on social media showing a cloud of smoke in the air.
On November 30, a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s armed Houthi group at Saudi Arabia was shot down near the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait.
Saudi Arabia and its allies have often accused Iran with equipping its proxies in the region with missile. Iran denies arming the Houthis.
