Saudi military intercepted Scud ballistic missile fired by Yemeni rebels in southern Saudi Arabia 12708151

Defence & Security News - Saudi Arabia
 
Saudi military intercepted Scud ballistic missile fired by Yemeni rebels in southern Saudi Arabia.
Yemeni army units allied to the Houthi militia fired a Scud ballistic missile toward southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday but the Saudi military said that the missile was intercepted. Residents in Yemen's capital Sanaa reported hearing a big roar as the Scud was launched from near the city, followed by Saudi-led air strikes on a presidential palace and a military depot for rockets.
     
Yemeni army units allied to the Houthi militia fired a Scud ballistic missile toward southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday but the Saudi military said that the missile was intercepted. Residents in Yemen's capital Sanaa reported hearing a big roar as the Scud was launched from near the city, followed by Saudi-led air strikes on a presidential palace and a military depot for rockets. Scud missile launch unit
     

Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman, a spokesman for the Yemeni forces fighting alongside the Houthis, said the missile was aimed at an electricity station in Saudi Arabia's Jizan province.

The strike was "a response to the brutal Saudi aggression on Yemen," he told Saba, Yemen's Houthi-controled state news agency.

The Saudi military said in a statement it intercepted the missile, averting any damage, and directed air attacks against the source of fire in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia led an Arab military intervention against the Houthis beginning on March 26 to restore the Yemeni government ousted by the group and fend off what it sees as the creeping influence of the Shi'ite Muslim group's main ally, Iran.

A Scud missile had been launched at Saudi Arabia by Yemeni forces twice before during the five-month war but was shot down by American-provided Patriot missiles both times.

The Scud is a mobile, Soviet-made, short-range, tactical ballistic surface-to-surface missile system.

The warhead bay of the `Scud B' is 2.87 m long forming the nose section of the missile, and weighs 985 kg. It is believed that the first Russian design for `Scud B' was for a nuclear warhead with a yield of 50 kT, but this was later replaced with a selectable yield warhead covering from 5 to 70 kT.

The Scud missile has a maximum firing range from 180 to 700 km.