Saudi Arabia: drones over Riyadh, Medina and the Eastern Province, while the Houthis deny targeting the holy cities

Saudi Arabia’s air defences shot down drones over Riyadh, Medina, the Eastern Province and the south of the country between Friday, October 30 and the morning of Saturday, October 31, and also intercepted a ballistic missile heading for the southern region. The shoot-downs were announced by the spokesman of the coalition for Yemen, Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki. The Houthis, who have claimed attacks on Saudi Arabia, deny that they targeted the two holy cities of Islam.

The series of announcements, published by the official Saudi Press Agency, shows how frequent the attacks are. On Friday afternoon the coalition reported a ballistic missile intercepted over the south and, a minute later, a drone in the Riyadh area. In the evening came a drone over the Medina area, and after midnight Saudi time a drone in the Eastern Province, the region of the major oil facilities, without the statement naming the Houthis. Another drone over the southern region followed.

On Saturday morning the air defence again downed a hostile drone in the Riyadh area. Debris fell in the area with no reports of casualties. On Thursday evening Civil Defence had announced that one civilian was lightly injured and a house and a vehicle were damaged when debris from two intercepted ballistic missiles fell in Riyadh. In the early hours of Friday the coalition had announced the shoot-down of a drone in the Mecca area and, a few hours earlier, of a cruise missile heading for the Western Region.

The Houthis deny attacks on Mecca and Medina

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree twice denied on Telegram that his forces sent drones toward the holy cities. On Friday morning he called the announcement about Mecca a “great slander”, saying Houthi operations target “the oil facilities and military bases” of Saudi Arabia. In the evening he repeated the denial for Medina, speaking of Riyadh’s “moral bankruptcy”. For the drones over Riyadh and the Eastern Province there was neither a claim of responsibility nor a denial.

The Houthis also claim that the Saudi air force, with F-15s and Typhoons from the Khamis Mushait and Taif bases, carried out 93 air raids and missile launches on Sanaa and provinces of Yemen within 24 hours. These figures have not been independently confirmed. On Thursday the Houthis had claimed six attacks on Saudi airports and refineries.

Condemnations and the American drawdown

The General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers condemned, from Tunis, the attempted attacks on Mecca, Riyadh and the Western Region. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan condemned the attacks together with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Atlanta. The US embassy said in a security alert that the State Department had ordered the departure of non-emergency government personnel and their families from Saudi Arabia, effective October 23, and that American government employees need special permission to use Saudi airports, Anadolu reported. The move followed new State Department travel advisories for the Gulf because of the Houthis.