A Black Day in the Saudi Capital… Details of Tense Hours in Riyadh

The Saudi capital is experiencing tense hours, having become, since late Friday evening, an open arena for repeated airstrikes. So what is happening?

Exclusive – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

In the latest reports, smoke columns rose in several locations in Riyadh, the most important city to Saudi Arabia and the country’s political capital. According to preliminary assessments, vital facilities, most notably the tanks of Aramco—the Saudi oil giant—were attacked by a drone, in parallel with an attack that also hit Riyadh Airport, where smoke columns are still rising from those locations, according to British and French news agencies.

The two sites are part of a series of targets that have been subjected to airstrikes since Friday evening, as media reports up to this moment spoke of several explosions recorded in various parts of Riyadh, accompanied by the sighting of interceptor missiles being launched, along with the Civil Defense confirming sirens in the city.

Although the new attacks on Riyadh are the first since Yemen’s decision to escalate against Saudi Arabia according to the equation of siege with siege and escalation with escalation, the continuation of waves of ballistic missiles and drones indicates that the targets in the city are still very significant, which necessitates the continuation of the wide-scale operation there.

The Saudi capital contains about 4 royal palaces, in addition to 7 military bases, not to mention vital facilities, most notably the Central Bank and the Saudi financial market.

Although Yemen has not yet claimed those attacks, their timing indicates that they are part of response operations, as they came hours after Saudi Arabia’s attempt to target the Yemeni capital in a manner described by the spokesman for the Yemeni forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, as “ISIS-like,” referring to booby-trapped vehicles.

Riyadh is added to a list of several Saudi cities that has so far reached 10 cities, all of which are subjected to almost daily attacks. These cities extend from Abha in the south to Al-Ula in the north, before Riyadh and Al-Kharj in the east were added, passing through Yanbu, Jizan, Najran, Taif, and Jeddah.