RIYADH: Coalition forces backing Yemen’s legitimate government said on Saturday they shot down a ballistic missile and intercepted a drone aimed at Saudi Arabia, amid an intensifying campaign of cross-border attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militia. Shortly past 4 a.m., the Saudi Civil Defense sounded alarms through its Early Warning Platform, warning of potential incoming aerial threats across Riyadh, Najran, and the southern governorate of Wadi Al-Dawasir. Two loud blasts reverberated across the capital minutes after the alert was issued. “Air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh,,” coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said later in a statement on X. In earlier post, Al-Maliki said "a drone was intercepted and destroyed in the Eastern Province.” Saudi Arabia has faced sustained drone and missile barrages in recent weeks, including a high-profile strike on Riyadh’s international airport that marked the Kingdom’s deadliest attack in years. Najran, located along the Kingdom’s southwestern border with Yemen, has faced recurrent cross-border rocket and drone fire, while Wadi al-Dawasir lies deep in the southern reaches of Riyadh province near the Rub’ al-Khali (Empty Quarter). While the Houthis have periodically disclaimed responsibility for specific operations targeting Saudi territory, cross-border strikes have surged sharply. The flare-up follows the breakdown of an uneasy four-year truce in July, compounded by wider regional escalation between the United States and Iran. The conflict in Yemen, which erupted in late 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and plunged the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. • With AFP