File image.
Saudi Arabia has been caught in footage for the first time attempting to intercept a ballistic missile launched from Yemen by the Houthis (Ansar Allah) at Israel.
The Houthis launched two missiles at Israel late on September 24 and late on September 25. It is unclear which of the missiles the kingdom attempted to intercept.
The footage showing the interception, which reportedly involved the launch of two missiles from a MIM-104 Patriot battery deployed near the city of Madinah, surfaced online on September 26. The Saudi Ministry of Defense didn’t release any statement on the matter.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of intercepting missiles launched by the Houthis at Israel since the group began carrying out such attacks in response to the war on the Gaza Strip nearly two years ago. However, only now evidence supporting these accusations has emerged.
Since March 18, when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) resumed its offensive against Hamas, an ally of the Houthis, in Gaza, the group has launched nearly 90 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel.
During this period, the IDF more than once announced that ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis failed over Saudi Arabia.
Videos from September 12 show one such case where a Houthi missile apparently failed over Saudi Arabia. The incident also took place near Madinah. At the time, the Saudi MoD also remained silent.
The latest footage that shows an interception attempt came after Hebrew media reports revealed that Saudi Arabia was moving away from pursuing peace with Israel for the first time in decades over the IDF’s ongoing offensive in Gaza.
It also came after Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to send Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis, to the “depths of hell” and that his group would lose its hold on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The threat was seen as a signal by Israel that it was willing to work with the forces of the internationally-recognized, Saudi-backed Yemeni government to take down the Houthis.
For around three years now, both Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have remained committed to a ceasefire in Yemen. Not a single major violation has been reported, so far.
While the latest incident over Madinah can be viewed as an attempt by the Saudis to stop Houthi attacks on Israel, it is possible that the kingdom simply made its policy on intercepting missiles launched from Yemen after the incident from earlier this month. In any case, this could lead to tensions between the two sides that Israel could capitalize on to renew the war in Yemen.
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