The Saudi-Emirati coalition announced that it would intercept and destroy a ballistic missile at midnight in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, while Saudi media reported that another missile was intercepted in the sky of the southern city of Jizan.
"Al-Ikhbaria" channel stated in a tweet on Twitter that a missile was intercepted in the sky of the city of Riyadh, while the French Press Agency confirmed that its correspondents in the city heard three explosions.
As for Reuters news agency, people in Riyadh confirmed that they heard several explosions, followed by the sounding of sirens in the northern regions.
This attack on Riyadh is the first of its kind since the Houthis announced the suspension of their strikes against the kingdom about six months ago.
The attack took place on Saturday, two days after the representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Yemen Martin Griffiths called the warring parties for an urgent meeting to agree to the armistice.
Saudi Arabia has been the target of dozens of attacks with ballistic missiles and drones last year, the most prominent of which was an attack on installations of the Aramco oil company last September, which was adopted by the Houthis, but Riyadh questioned this and held Iran responsible for the rebels.
A few days after the attack on Aramco, the Houthis suddenly launched a "peace initiative" by declaring an end to the attacks on Saudi Arabia.
It is noteworthy that the "Saba" agency affiliated to the Houthi group said a few days ago that the group revealed the development of four new missile defense systems of the "Saqib" and "Fater" type.
The head of what is known as the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi Al-Mashat, stressed that the new systems will change the course of the battle, and will be a prelude to more sophisticated and effective defense systems in addressing hostile air targets, as he put it.
As for the military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Sari, he said that this year will be "an air year with distinction", stressing that the downfall of a Saudi Tornado fighter in Al-Jawf province a week ago was only a "beginning and successful experiment" for one of these systems.