The 2018 Riyadh missile strike was a series of seven missiles launched into

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

by Shiite

Houthi The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that ...

rebels on 26 March 2018, targeting the King Khalid International Airport and other sites. Saudi forces claimed to have destroyed all seven missiles, three of them targeting

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, Literal translation, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi Arabic, Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyad ...

, two targeting Jazan, and one targeting Najran. However, according to

Jeffrey Lewis Jeffrey Lewis (born November 20, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and comic book artist. Early life Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. He attended State University of New York at Purchase, graduating in ...

, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at CNS, the Saudis failed to intercept the missiles following a malfunction of the

MIM-104 Patriot The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar compon ...

system. One video appeared to show a Patriot missile launch on Sunday night go rapidly wrong, with the missile changing course midair, crashing into a neighborhood in Riyadh and exploding. Another appeared to detonate shortly after being launched in the Saudi capital. The news channel,

Al Arabiya Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC. The channel is a ...

, aired footage that it said showed Patriot missile batteries firing at the incoming Houthi missiles. Online videos showed what appeared to be a missile fuselage lying on a street in Riyadh. The

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, ...

condemned the attack. An

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

ian man was killed and two others were wounded when a fragment of one of the missiles over Riyadh fell over a neighborhood. Al Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, identified some of the missiles fired as the Burkan, or Volcano missile. The United Nations, Western countries and the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen all said the Burkan mirrors characteristics of an Iranian Qiam ballistic missile. They said that suggests Iran either shared the technology or smuggled disassembled missiles to the Houthis, who then rebuilt them. A spokesperson for the embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said "seven ballistic missiles were shot toward Saudi Arabia from within Yemen." A press conference was held the same day at 1 p.m. "to provide more details about this aggressive act."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riyadh missile strike, 2018 2018 in Saudi Arabia Conflicts in 2018 Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict Yemeni civil war (2014–present) Houthi insurgency 21st century in Riyadh March 2018 events in Asia March 2018 events in Saudi Arabia