Saudi Arabian air base attacked by Yemeni Houthi rebels' ballistic missile
Yemen's Houthis are probably the only rebel group in the world that has ballistic missiles in its arsenal. After Shiite rebels from the Ansar Allah movement forced the Saudi Arabian President of Yemen, Mansour Hadi, to abandon the capital and then flee the country, part of the government troops went over to their side with full weapons, including such formidable Cold War weapons as Soviet R missiles -17, commonly known by its NATO name Scud.
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Yemeni TV channel Al-Masirah said today that at dawn, a ballistic missile attacked the largest Royal Air Force base in southern Saudi Arabia, located in the area of Khamis Mushait. According to Yemeni brigadier general Sharaf Lukman, a missile hit caused "massive destruction." Residents of Sana'a report having heard the characteristic sound of rocket launch. There was no evidence of this information from the Saudi side.
This is not the first such missile attack since the international coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched a war against rebels who they say have risen against corrupt pro-Western and pro-Saudi officials who now control northwestern Yemen, including the capital. The city of Sanu. On June 6, the Houthis fired twelve such missiles into Saudi Arabia, three of which were intercepted by Saudi air defense systems, others fell in desert areas without causing significant damage, but the rest hit their intended targets. As a result of this attack, the chief of the main headquarters of the Saudi Arabian Air Force, General Mohammed al-Shaalan, was killed. However, the Saudi side, just as recently in the case of the death in Yemen of the eldest son of the Emir of Dubai, Prince Rashid bin Mohammed al-Maktoum, reported the death of the general from a heart attack. Following this success, the Yemenis used Scuds twice more, on June 30 and August 26.
R-17 missiles were put into service in the USSR in 1962 and were then transferred in large quantities by the Soviet Union to its various friendly regimes. Their production continued until 1988 and they are still in service in the CIS countries and various Eastern countries. As of 2010, Yemen had 6 launchers and 33 missiles. The Houthis have already launched some of the missiles; some were probably destroyed by coalition aircraft, but it is possible that this was not the last Scud attack on Saudi territory.
Soviet liquid-propellant ballistic missile R-17, or SS-1c Scud B according to NATO classification with launcher 9P117 on a four-axle self-propelled chassis MAZ-543P
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