Saudi Arabia Says It Intercepts Yemen Missiles Ahead of G20 Meeting

Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted several ballistic missiles fired by Yemeni Houthi forces towards Saudi cities on Friday ahead of a gathering of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 major economies in Riyadh.

The Iranian-aligned armed movement launched the missiles from the Yemeni capital Sanaa at 12:30am, Saudi news agency SPA quoted the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen as saying. It gave no further details.

A Houthi military statement said the group had successfully attacked Saudi Aramco and sensitive targets in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu using drones and ballistic missiles, without providing evidence.

Aramco, the kingdom’s state-owned oil company, declined to comment.

The G20 meeting, at which finance officials are due to discuss the global economy, continued as scheduled. It was unclear if any of the projectiles had been fired towards Riyadh, which has been targeted previously.

Separately, the Saudi police said they arrested a man who had opened fire on a car and then run over the driver in Medina. Three members of the security forces were wounded in the process, a police spokesman was quoted as saying by SPA.

An escalation of violence in Yemen since the start of the year has shattered more than three months of calm in the five-year-old conflict, widely seen as proxy war between Saudi Arabia and its regional foe Iran.

Read the full article on Reuters, February 21, 2020