SAUDI Arabia’s air defences “intercepted” a ballistic missile fired from rebel-held Yemen at Riyadh, a military spokesman said, adding two others were shot down in southern Saudi Arabia.

The announcement came after witnesses described explosions and heard three blasts over the capital, which has previously been targeted by Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen.

“An Iranian ballistic missile launched from Sadaa towards Riyadh was successfully intercepted by Saudi Air Defence earlier today,” Colonel Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Huthis, said.

He said Saudi forces also intercepted two missiles in the southern Jizan and Najran provinces close to the border with Yemen.

The attacks were claimed by the rebels via their news outlet Al-Masirah. “The missile force carried out a large-scale ballistic missile attack on various parts of Saudi Arabia,” Al-Masirah said.

Houthi TV network Al Masirah said the target was Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry.

As the announcement on the missile interceptions emerged, Col. Malki also said in a separate statement that Saudi air defences had shot down two unmanned Yemeni drones in southern Saudi Arabia.

One of the drones was targeting the Abha international airport in Asir province, which led to a temporary suspension of air traffic, and a second was approaching a “civilian object” in Jizan province, he said.

The Huthis claimed attacks on Abha airport and Saudi Aramco, located in Jizan, via Al-Masirah, publishing an infographic of the “Qasef 1” drone.

One man was killed in Riyadh last month by debris after the military shot down a flurry of missiles, the first casualty of the Yemen war in the Saudi capital.

Saudi Arabia and a coalition of mostly Gulf Arab states intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to try and push back the Houthis after the movement drove the internationally recognised government into Saudi exile.

After Houthi drone attacks earlier today in Abha and Jizan, a Patriot #missile was fired over #Riyadh just a few minutes ago. Again fairly close to the Diplomatic Quarters... pic.twitter.com/L0YoJJclIR — Gregor W. Koessler (@koessler_g) April 11, 2018

The attack marked the fourth time in five months that missiles have flown over Riyadh, as the Houthis step up efforts to demonstrate they can reach the Saudi capital, and threatens to escalate a regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The coalition has launched thousands of air strikes in Yemen which have hit schools, markets and hospitals, killing hundreds of people — though it says it does not target civilians.