Saudi authorities withdraw second round of alerts for Riyadh and al-Kharj
Saudi authorities withdraw second round of alerts for Riyadh and al-Kharj The Directorate of Saudi Civil Defence said danger has passed in Riyadh and al-Kharj, after the National Early Warning Platform urged residents in both areas to take precautionary measures. Earlier, AFP said its correspondent had heard explosions in the Saudi capital. Similar alerts were earlier issued, and later withdrawn,…
Saudi authorities issued an emergency warning of a hostile aerial threat in Riyadh and al-Kharj, advising residents to take precautionary measures and stay indoors. According to AFP, explosions were heard in the Saudi capital shortly before 3am.
The Directorate of Saudi Civil Defence later announced that the danger had passed in both areas. This was the first time Riyadh had been directly affected since the conflict in neighbouring Yemen intensified in July, with pro-Iranian Houthis regularly targeting Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis have declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, which had been using the Bab al-Mandab strait to bypass the Strait of Hormuz for its oil exports. According to maritime tracking firm Kpler, Saudi exports via the Bab al-Mandab strait had dropped since July, although five loaded ships had passed through in the last week.
Brief written by urgent.news from Middle East Eye, Free Malaysia Today, New Straits Times, Malay Mail, Arabian Business — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
