Saudi-led coalition intercepts 2 drones over Riyadh region

The Saudi-led coalition announced on Monday that it had intercepted and destroyed two drones over the Riyadh region in central Saudi Arabia, without identifying who launched them, Anadolu reports.

“Two drones intercepted and destroyed in the Riyadh region,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said in a post on US social media company X.

Al-Maliki did not say whether the interception resulted in casualties or material damage.

Earlier Monday, the spokesman said air defenses had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi group toward Saudi Arabia’s southern region.

Saudi Civil Defense had earlier issued an all-clear for the cities of Abha and Najran and the governorates of Khamis Mushait and Taif following warnings in those areas.

It did not specify the nature of the threats that prompted the alerts.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, meanwhile, claimed that the group had targeted Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia in two separate attacks using two drones over the past 48 hours, disrupting air traffic.

In a statement on X, Saree also claimed a direct drone hit on an early-warning radar in Jazan, southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border, and said the group had targeted a military transport aircraft at Jazan airport.

The developments came amid escalating hostilities between the Houthi group and the Saudi-led coalition, which supports Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition against the Houthis since March 2015 after the group seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa and other parts of the country in 2014.