Yemen rebels fire missile at Saudi capital

Saudi Arabia says its forces have intercepted a missile fired toward one of its major international airports on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh.

Houthi-owned news outlet Al-Masira reports that the ballistic missile was fired late yesterday from across Saudi Arabia's southern border by Houthi militants in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia's Civil Aviation Authority says the missile did not cause any damage to the King Khalid International Airport and that flights have not been disrupted.

A spokesman for the Yemeni Houthi rebel group has claimed responsibility for the attack, telling Al Jazeera they launched a Burkan 2-H, a scud-type missile with a range of more than 800km. The claim has been repeated on the Houthi TV network Al Masirah.

A video posted online purportedly shows smoke rising from near the airport. A second video shows what appears to be an anti-missile battery attempting to intercept the missile.

Saudi military forces have intercepted missiles fired from Yemen several times in the past.

In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition staged a military intervention in Yemen in support of the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, bombing Houthis and loyalists of former president Al Abdullah Saleh.

The civil war has devastated Yemen and killed thousands of people.

With AP.