Posted on 06/06/2015 1:28:26 AM PDT by SaveFerris
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia said it shot down a Scud missile fired by Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies early Saturday at a Saudi city that is home to a major air base, marking what could be a major escalation in the monthslong war.
Two missiles launched from a Patriot missile battery shot down the Scud around 2:45 a.m. Saturday (2345 GMT, 7:45 p.m. EDT Friday) around the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The agency did not report any casualties in the attack.
Khamis Mushait is home to the King Khalid Air Base, the largest such facility in that part of the country. Saudis on social media reported hearing air raid sirens go off around the city during the attack.
The agency blamed Iranian-backed Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies in forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saudi Arabia leads a coalition targeting the rebels in airstrikes that began March 26 in support of the country's exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Those strikes have targeted arms caches and other Scud missile sites around the country.
The coalition responded to Saturday's attack by targeting and damaging the launcher, which was located south of the Houthi hub of Saada, according to the news agency.
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter. Its major oil fields are located in the east of the country, far from Khamis Mushait.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
FYI
Front Page News?
I remember how demRATs derided the Patriot missile system in the first golf war.
I remember talking to some Patriot school instructors out at Ft. Bliss Tx., he had several classes full of Saudi Army students, Privates mostly. The school building parking lot was full of showroom condition Pontiac Trans Ams.
The Saudis have been having border skirmishes with Yemen going back decades. A friend was the U.S. advisor to a Saudi armored car brigade there going back probably 25 or so years ago. He had some interesting stories of armed encounters in the desert with Yemeni armor.
Would have loved to have heard some of those.
In the first such attack of the 10-week-old conflict in Yemen, Shiite Muslim rebels early Saturday launched three Scud missiles toward a large Saudi air base, the insurgents reported. The Saudis acknowledged the firing of one missile, which they said was shot down.
The use of Scud missiles by the Houthi rebels – and U.S.-provided Patriot missiles to deflect them – marked a significant escalation of the conflict, which has killed more than 2,200 people in Yemen and displaced about 1 million others, according to international estimates.
The Saudi officers leave their wives (plural) at home when they go to Fort Blister for training, and weekend at Las Vegas. They like to have lobster flown in from Lawrence, Massachusetts, for some reason.
No, these were lower enlisted, it was obvious they were paid around $10,000.00 a month back then.
Very Interesting
I only know about the officers, who attend classroom courses in Massachusetts (where they acquire a taste for lobster), as well as field training in New Mexico (where they acquire a taste for Las Vegas). It has to be tough to recruit an indigenous army in a country awash in oil wealth. It sounds like the Saudis have realized that Uncle Sam isn’t always going to bail them out, and they better be ready to fight for themselves next time.
bump
Where did the scuds come from?
Thank you, Obama for intercepting those Iranian freighters.
Oh, wait....
bttt
[ I remember how demRATs derided the Patriot missile system in the first golf war. ]
Patriot missle tech was an offshoot of the Derided “Star Wars” program libs loved to whine about Reagan about.
I read this that ISIS now controls a SCUD missile base in Yemin.
I don’t think they just found it just lying around.
ISIS and al-Qaeda both have scuds:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3174391/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2993273/posts
Clambake, gonna have a clambake.
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