Saudi Arabia intercepts missile targeting Riyadh airport; Yemen's Houthi rebels claim responsibility

Saudi Arabia says its forces have intercepted a missile fired toward one of its major international airports on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh.

Houthi-owned news outlet Al-Masira reports that the ballistic missile was fired late Saturday from across Saudi Arabia's southern border by Houthi militants in Yemen.

Al-Jazeera quoted a spokesperson for the Houthi rebels as saying they launched an 800-km range Burkan 2-H missile.

"The capital cities of countries that continually shell us, targeting innocent civilians, will not be spared from our missiles," the news channel quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Saudi military forces have intercepted missiles fired from Yemen several times in the past.

A Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Houthis and their allies in Yemen since March 2015 in a war that has devastated Yemen and killed thousands of people.

A colonel was quoted by Saudi Arabia's official news agency as saying a surface-to-air Patriot missile had been deployed to destroy the rebels' missile, Al-Jazeera's report said.

Saudi Arabia's Civil Aviation Authority says the missile did not cause any damage to the King Khalid International Airport and that flights have not been disrupted.

The King Khalid International Airport's management said on its official Twitter account that traffic was normal, and that flights were on schedule.

For passengers traveling through @KKIASA in Riyadh, traffic is going as normal and usual, and flights are on schedule.- RUH |? ???? ? (@KKIASA) November 4, 2017

(Inputs from AP)

WATCH | Here's a video that shows smoke near King Khalid International Airport

More footage from King Khalid International Airport after interception of #Yemen Ballistic Missile pic.twitter.com/GE7nS4U5oK- Strategic Sentinel (@StratSentinel) November 4, 2017