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Page added on June 6, 2015
Yemen Fire Scud Missile Into Saudi Arabia
Just two days after reports indicated that Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels were prepared to participate in UN-brokered peace talks with Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s government in exile, clashes on the Saudi border have intensified.
On Friday, the Saudi press agency said it had used Apache helicopters and artillery to repel a Houthi-led advance, killing “dozens” of militants. Four Saudis were also killed.
Meanwhile, Riyadh stepped up airstrikes around the Yemeni capital targeting what the Saudis say were arms depots. The Houthis, however, say the aerial bombardment is inflicting untold civilian casualties, mostly women and children. Here’s Reuters:
Coalition Arab bombings killed around 58 people across Yemen on Wednesday and Thursday, the state news agency Saba, controlled by the Houthis, said.
48 people, most of them women and children, were killed in air strikes on their houses in the Houthi heartland in the rural far north adjoining Saudi Arabia.
The reports could not be independently verified.
On Saturday, Riyadh claimed the Houthis, in concert with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, fired a scud missile at Saudi Arabia for the first time.
The scud, which apparently targeted the city of Khamis Mushait in southwest Saudi Arabia, was intercepted by two Patriot missiles. “At 2:45am on Saturday morning, the Houthi militias and ousted [president] Ali Abdullah Saleh launched a Scud missile in the direction of Khamees al-Mushait, and praise be to God, the Royal Saudi air defences blocked it with a Patriot missile,” a statement said.
Khamis Mushait is home to the US-desiged and constructed King Khalid Air Force base, from which airstrikes on Houthi positions have been launched throughout the conflict.
(King Khalid Air Force Base)
Friday’s attack by Abdullah Saleh’s Republican Guard and the Houthis in the Jizan province was billed as the largest “offensive” mounted by the rebels since the onset of hostilities months ago. The fighting reportedly began when rebels fired rockets at Saudi positions and promptly ended when the Saudi army called in air support from Apache gunships.
(a rebel fires on Saudi positions near the border)
Note that this latest escalation comes a month and a half after Saudi Arabia declared a George Bush-style “mission accomplished”-type end to operation Decisive Storm, claiming the ‘coalition’ airstrikes had “successfully eliminated the threat to the security of Saudi Arabia.”
The declaration looks to have been a bit premature.
The Houthis are scheduled to attend peace talks in Geneva on June 14. That is unless the Saudis launch a ground invasion in the interim.
12 Comments on "Yemen Fire Scud Missile Into Saudi Arabia"
dissident on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 11:01 am
Well, I guess it is time for sanctimonious, bloody hypocrite Uncle Sam to bomb them “back to the stone age” for this “transgression”.
Let’s forget about the Saudi aggression against Yemen.
Perk Earl on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 12:39 pm
Well, I will say that things sure are heating up for the Saudi’s. The West better be on top of this one because if something were to happen to their oil infrastructure by way of damage or control, then the oil supply situation could get dicey real fast.
BobInget on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 3:22 pm
All it will take is a single missile hitting its mark and the entire ‘invincible kingdom’ comes tumbling down.
The longer Saudis
continue bombing the shorter their chances become. There is no way Houthi are going to sue for peace with a potential jack-pot of Saudi weapons, the second biggest on the planet, within reach.
More then even money, if Houthi get their mitts on missiles less the fifty-six years old,
they will Not be intercepted.
The first use of the term Scud was in the NATO name SS-1b Scud-A, applied to the R-11 ballistic missile. The earlier R-1 missile had carried the NATO name SS-1 Scunner, but was of a very different design, almost directly a copy of the German V-2 rocket. The R-11 used technology gained from the V-2 as well, but was a new design, smaller and differently shaped than the V-2 and R-1 weapons. The R-11 was developed by the Korolyev OKB[1] and entered service in 1957.
GregT on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 4:57 pm
How come all of our missiles have such awesome names, and the other guy’s missiles’ names always suck?
BobInget on Sat, 6th Jun 2015 5:37 pm
Foreign missiles have more then one identifier, ours and their’s.
Naturally, the fastest (super sonic) missiles are more difficult to shoot down.
US is catching up to1000 MPH missiles with speed of light lasers.
BTW, the latest Scud (D) was marketed in 1989
North Korea is selling missiles that are multi warhead capable. Iran bought a bushel.
North Korea will trade missiles to anyone with oil.
Beery on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 4:02 am
Yemen fires, not Yemen fire.
Apneaman on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 4:32 am
Spelling and grammar Nazi’s – keep moving.
Speculawyer on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 11:34 am
“All it will take is a single missile hitting its mark and the entire ‘invincible kingdom’ comes tumbling down.”
How do you figure that? If they kill the king, the kingdom doesn’t end. They just make the next prince to be king. And they have hundreds or thousands of princes.
Exactly what mark is it that you think can be hit and magically bring down the kingdom? This is not Star Wars Episode IV.
Speculawyer on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 11:36 am
“How come all of our missiles have such awesome names, and the other guy’s missiles’ names always suck?”
You think SCUD is an awesome name? Or do I detect some jingoism in the conspiracy theory dissident?
GregT on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 11:47 am
“Exactly what mark is it that you think can be hit and magically bring down the kingdom? This is not Star Wars Episode IV.”
Ghawar.
GregT on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 11:49 am
“You think SCUD is an awesome name? ”
Not sure where YOU are from spec. But where I come from, SCUD missiles are the other guy’s.
PrestonSturges on Sun, 7th Jun 2015 4:08 pm
Google “yemen explosions” to see the Saudis hitting Yemen arms depots and creating fireballs like small nuclear blasts that shatter windows for miles.