Saudi coalition says it intercepted cruise missile over Medina as Houthis deny strike

The Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, March 13, 2010 (Meshari Alawfi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0) [file photo]

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Thursday that it intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile over the Medina region in western Saudi Arabia, Anadolu Agency and other outlets reported.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki announced the interception in a brief statement on X through the coalition’s official account. The Arabic text said the coalition had intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile in the Medina area. The statement did not name who launched the missile or give details on casualties or damage.

Hours earlier the same account said the coalition had intercepted and destroyed a drone over Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. A day earlier, coalition and Saudi authorities described destroying a ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh, after debris from earlier intercepts injured residents and damaged homes in the capital area.

Yemen’s Houthi movement denied any operation against Saudi territory on Thursday. France 24, citing AFP, quoted Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree saying the Yemeni armed forces had not carried out any operation targeting Saudi land that day, and calling the Medina claim a fabrication. Sulaiman Ahmed, who often relays Houthi military statements on X, posted an English rendering of Saree’s denial that Medina was targeted this morning.

Anadolu Agency noted that the coalition had previously accused the Houthis of a drone attack on the Taibah electricity distribution station in Medina on September 29. That strike knocked a transformer out of service but did not cut the wider grid, al-Maliki said at the time. The station supplies power to the Prophet’s Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, Anadolu Agency said.

Thursday’s Medina interception comes days after Houthi forces claimed a strike on Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, an attack Mereja covered on Wednesday.

Deccan Chronicle and other English wire relays summarized the coalition’s Medina and eastern intercepts for readers outside the Gulf. The Associated Press reported that the coalition confirmed destroying a cruise missile over Medina province and notably did not assign blame in that short statement, even as the Houthis issued their denial through Saree.

Later on Thursday, al-Maliki held a news conference in Riyadh on an attack on King Khalid International Airport and on coalition strikes meant to cut Houthi war-supporting infrastructure. He said the Houthis had carried out 20 attacks on the Riyadh airport in October and must “immediately halt all terrorist operations targeting civilians and civilian objects, including airports, ports, oil facilities and infrastructure,” Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

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Saudi coalition says it intercepted cruise missile over Medina as Houthis deny strike

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