by WorldTribune Staff, February 6, 2017
A surface-to-surface missile launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels hit a Saudi military camp near Riyadh on Feb. 5, according to regional news reports.
The Saudi Ministry of Defense has not commented on the incident, but a number of local citizens reported on Twitter that the missile hit a military camp in the town of al-Muzahimiyah, 40 kilometers west of Riyadh.
The Houthi rebels announced the successful launch of the missile, a variant of a Russian Scud-type missile known as “Borkan”, according to Al-Masdar News.
Yemen’s SABA News agency quoted a Houthi spokesperson announcing the attack as a “successful test-fire of a precision long-distance ballistic missile.”
“We stress that the capital of Saudi Arabia is now in the range of our missiles and, God willing, what is coming will be greater,” a statement from Houthi officials said.
Saudi Minister of Defense Mohammad bin Salman was at a meeting with Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi at the time of the attack.
Another media outlet, The New Arab, reported that Saudi officials attributed the explosion to an earthquake or meteor.
On Jan. 31, a Borkan-1 missile reportedly killed 80 coalition soldiers at a Saudi-UAE military base on Zuqar Island in the Red Sea. The attack was never confirmed or denied by the Saudi-led coalition.