Several explosions rocked Riyadh on Saturday, with Saudi state television reporting the failure of a rebel-launched ballistic missile attack in neighboring Yemen.
The Houthi rebels, backed by Iran in the conflict in Yemen, have stepped up attacks against Saudi Arabia at the head of a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
Read also: Yemen: America complicates the situation by dismissing the Houthis
The coalition thwarted "
a ballistic missile attack led by the Houthis
" on the Saudi capital Riyadh, Al-Ekhbariya television said without specifying the number of intercepted missiles.
AFP correspondents and residents in Riyadh heard several loud explosions.
The attack was not immediately claimed.
It comes as Saudi Arabia hosts the Formula E championship in the suburbs of Riyadh, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended according to state media.
In Yemen, the Houthis are leading a deadly offensive in an attempt to take control of the oil province of Marib, the last loyalist stronghold in the north of the country.
The rebels control much of the North, including the capital Sanaa.
The Houthis have intensified the attacks against the Saudi kingdom, despite the approach of the new American administration of Joe Biden which has decided to remove these rebels from its list of "
terrorist organizations
".