RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Three cruise missiles fired toward the Riyadh region were brought down on Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition said, according to Reuters, the second day running that Houthi launches have been aimed at the capital.
Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki confirmed the interceptions in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. The missiles were destroyed before they could reach their targets, and no casualties were immediately reported.
The coalition also said two Houthi drones launched toward Mecca and the south of the kingdom were intercepted and destroyed on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Saudi defences downed a ballistic missile and a cruise missile fired toward Riyadh. Residents had been warned by phone to shelter before that announcement, and no casualties were reported then either.
The week’s attacks began on Sunday, when a Houthi strike damaged an Aramco administrative building in the capital’s financial district.
Last month was deadlier. An attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, according to Reuters.
The fighting has sharpened since September, when the Houthis pushed toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the shipping chokepoint at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The group, which holds most of Yemen’s populous areas, has since stepped up its strikes on Saudi airports, ports and oil sites.
Saudi Arabia has answered with heavier airstrikes on Houthi targets inside Yemen. The Houthis did not immediately comment on Wednesday’s launches.