The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said its air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the group toward Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, AFP reported on Thursday, October 29.

Source: AFP via The Business Standard

"Air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward the Eastern Province," coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki posted on X, according to AFP. Qatar News Agency carried the same statement, reporting that al-Malki made it late on Wednesday.

Source: Qatar News Agency via Fana News

Reuters also reported on Thursday that the Saudi-led coalition said it had destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis toward the kingdom's eastern region early that day, in reporting on oil prices and renewed Middle East supply concerns.

Source: Reuters via MIX-FM

The reports reviewed gave no information on casualties or damage from this intercept. The Eastern Province is Saudi Arabia's oil-rich eastern region, and the Houthis said this week that they had targeted its Ras Tanura refinery with a ballistic missile — a claim attributed to the group in the AFP report.

Saudi Arabia has come under sustained Houthi attack this month, including a strike on Riyadh's international airport that AFP described as the kingdom's deadliest in years. Tehran has denied having anything to do with attacks by the Houthis after Saudi Arabia accused Iran of encouraging the group's escalation, AFP reported.

Following an uneasy four-year truce, fighting reignited in Yemen in July, months into the US-Iran conflict that has plunged the wider region into crisis, AFP reported. The Eastern Province and the wider Gulf are home to large numbers of Indian and Punjabi workers, making repeated missile attacks on the region a direct safety concern for diaspora families.