Saudi air defenses intercepted ballistic missiles over Riyadh and a city along the Yemen border late on Saturday, leaving at least two civilians wounded in the curfew-locked capital amid efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multiple explosions shook Riyadh in the attack, which the Saudi-led military coalition blamed on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, who have previously targeted Saudi cities with missiles, rockets and drones.
It was the first major assault on Saudi Arabia since the Houthis in September last year offered to halt attacks on the kingdom after devastating twin strikes on Saudi oil installations.
“Two ballistic missiles were launched towards the cities of Riyadh and Jizan,” the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported, citing the coalition fighting the rebels.
Their interception sent shrapnel falling on residential neighborhoods in the cities, resulting in two civilian casualties in Riyadh, a civil defense spokesman said in a separate statement released by SPA.
There was no immediate comment from the rebels.
At least three blasts rocked the capital — under a 15-hour coronavirus curfew — just before midnight, reporters said.
Jizan, as with many other Saudi cities, has a shorter dusk-to-dawn curfew.
The assault comes despite a show of support on Thursday by all of Yemen’s warring parties for the UN’s call for a ceasefire to protect civilians from the coronavirus pandemic.
Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni government and the rebels all welcomed an appeal from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an “immediate global ceasefire” to help avert disaster for vulnerable people in conflict zones.
The call coincided with the fifth anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen’s civil war, which was launched to shore up the internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels.
Yemen’s broken healthcare system has not so far recorded a COVID-19 case, but aid groups have warned that when it does hit, the effect will be catastrophic.
The country is already regarded as facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Saudi Arabia is also scrambling to limit the spread of the disease at home. The kingdom’s Ministry of Health has reported 1,203 infections and four deaths.
Fighting has recently escalated again between the Houthis and Riyadh-backed Yemeni troops around the strategic northern districts of Al-Jouf and Marib, ending a months-long lull.
The warring sides had earlier shown an interest in de-escalation, with a Saudi official saying in November that Riyadh had an “open channel” with the rebels with the goal of ending the war.
The Houthis also offered to halt all missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia after strikes on its oil installations in September, which were claimed by the rebels but were widely blamed on Iran, despite its denials.
However, those efforts seem to have unraveled.
Observers say that the rebels might have used the lull to bolster their military capabilities.
Riyadh had expected a quick victory when it led a multibillion dollar intervention in 2015 to oust Houthi rebels.
However, the costly intervention has failed to uproot the rebels from their northern strongholds.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS