OMM Newsroom
According to AnewZ, the Saudi-led coalition said on Nov. 8 that it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis at Riyadh. Loud explosions were heard in the Saudi capital.
A Reuters witness said Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense agency had issued an alert for the Riyadh region shortly before the blasts. Authorities later said the threat had passed.
In a subsequent statement, the coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed two cruise missiles over Riyadh and the country’s southern region.
Fighting and airstrikes in Yemen
Fighting between the sides has violated a truce reached in 2022 under UN mediation. Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in 2015, leading a coalition of Arab states to restore the internationally recognized government after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa.
The renewed fighting has become one front in a wider Middle East conflict that began in February with US and Israeli attacks on Iran. Since hostilities resumed in July, the Houthis have targeted Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities with missiles and drones. Saudi Arabia, in turn, has carried out airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen.
The Houthi-controlled Health Ministry said on Saturday that at least 33 people were killed in Saudi airstrikes near Sanaa. Saudi officials said they were investigating the incident. It was among the deadliest attacks reported since fighting resumed in July.
Reuters said it could not independently verify the information. Saudi Arabia’s International Communication Center also said it was investigating the reports. According to the ministry, the strikes hit homes in Bani Hushaysh, a Houthi-controlled town east of Sanaa; most of those killed were women and children.
Abdulaziz al-Daylami, director of Sehatuna Hospital in Sanaa, said some of the casualties, including first responders, were trapped under rubble. He told Reuters: “The strikes are continuing. As soon as rescuers arrive, another strike is launched. We have also lost some of our medical staff; they have been martyred.”
Al-Daylami said several people with serious head, chest and leg injuries, as well as fractures, had been brought to the hospital.
The spillover of the US-Iran conflict into Yemen has reignited a complex war that has been raging in the country for 12 years. The war has caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and divided the Arab world’s poorest country.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in October that the number of people displaced since the latest phase of fighting began had exceeded 200,000.
Syria denies plans to send troops to Yemen
A Syrian diplomatic source told state news agency SANA that Damascus had no plans to send troops to Yemen. While denying reports of a possible military deployment, the source said military cooperation with Saudi Arabia could expand in the future.
Reuters reported on Friday, Nov. 6, citing two Syrian military sources and a senior US official, that Syria had sent a limited number of military personnel to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. They were reportedly sent to provide military advice and training to the kingdom, which is facing attacks from the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen.
The source who spoke to SANA said current military cooperation focused on training forces, enhancing their capabilities and exchanging military expertise. Saudi officials are expected to visit Syria for coordination talks starting next month, the source said. Depending on the parties’ shared interests, cooperation could develop into a mutual defense agreement or Syria joining the Mecca Pact.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Nov. 4. It was their second meeting in less than a month. Syria and Saudi Arabia signed a defense cooperation agreement that day. A senior Syrian diplomat described the agreement as “a broad framework for military cooperation.”
The Mecca Pact is a defense agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey in Mecca in August. Turkey ratified it on Nov. 5, paving the way for Ankara to provide military support to Riyadh.
Syria has become a close ally of Saudi Arabia and the United States since rebels led by Ahmed al-Sharaa ousted Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran, in 2024.
