{"id":3014,"date":"2026-10-20T18:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3014"},"modified":"2026-10-20T18:03:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:03:53","slug":"saudi-arabia-downs-houthi-missile-blasts-heard-in-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3014","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia downs Houthi missile, blasts heard in capital"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Saudi forces on Tuesday said they had intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at the kingdom\u2019s capital, after authorities issued a danger warning and <em>AFP<\/em> journalists reported hearing blasts.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The kingdom \u201cintercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh\u201d, said Turki Al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition backing Yemen\u2019s government in its war against the Houthis.<\/p>\n<p>Riyadh was shaken by two blasts, according to <em>AFP<\/em> journalists in the capital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh City to alert for a potential danger,\u201d the Saudi civil defence said in a statement on X.<\/p>\n<p>But the alert was lifted a few minutes later, with the civil defence saying \u201cthe danger has passed\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  w-full sm:w-1\/2  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\" data-original-src=\"https:\/\/english.aaj.tv\/news\/330477288\/uk-to-deploy-fighter-jets-to-help-protect-saudi-arabia-from-houthi-attacks-govt\">\n<div class=\"media__item  media__item--newskitlink  \">    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:250px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/english.aaj.tv\/news\/card\/330477288\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have reached an unprecedented scale, forcing the postponement of a major investment conference in a blow to Riyadh\u2019s hopes of attracting greater foreign capital and diversifying its economy.<\/p>\n<p>The deadly attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis have forced Riyadh airport to shut.<\/p>\n<p>The Saudi air force has been regularly targeting the group in retaliation amid fighting inside Yemen between the Houthis and the country\u2019s Riyadh-backed government.<\/p>\n<p>In July, a fragile 2022 truce fell apart after the Houthis allowed an Iranian plane to land in Yemen\u2019s capital Sanaa in defiance of Riyadh\u2019s control over Yemeni airspace, setting off a spate of attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Later, the Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, territory and oil facilities, before uprooting Yemeni government forces from positions along the Red Sea coastline in a lightning campaign in September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi forces on Tuesday said they had intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at the kingdom\u2019s capital, after authorities issued a danger warning and AFP journalists reported hearing blasts. The kingdom \u201cintercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh\u201d, said Turki Al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition backing Yemen\u2019s government in its war against the Houthis. Riyadh was shaken by two blasts, according to AFP journalists in the capital. \u201cA warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}