On November 4, Houthi-Saleh forces launched a Scud-derived Burkan-2H ballistic missile toward Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Saudi air defenses employed at least four Patriot interceptors, which the Saudi Ministry of Defense said successfully destroyed the incoming missile. According to Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Defense Ministry, the Burkan-2H was aimed at the King Khalid International Airport.

The Houthis’ news channel, Al-Masirah, said on Twitter: “We repeatedly affirmed that capitals of aggression states won’t be spared from our ballistic missiles in retaliation for the constant targeting of innocent civilians.” Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Abdullatif Al-Zayani condemned the attack, saying it was a “cowardly terrorist attack that manifests the state of confusion” of the Houthi-Saleh group and their “insistence to carry on with exposing the region’s security and stability to grave dangers.”

On November 6, the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting Houthi-Saleh forces in Yemen said that the firing of a ballistic missile at Riyadh could constitute “an act of war” by Iran, which it blamed for the attack. The Saudi-led coalition also said it would “temporarily” close all of Yemen’s air, ground, and sea ports in response to the missile firing. Iran has rejected accusations that it has equipped Houthi-Saleh fighters with rockets and missiles.