Presumed Houthi militants in Yemen have stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting the capital, Riyadh; the southwestern city of Jizan, home to a major refinery project; and a Saudi crude oil tanker, among other targets.
Analysts say the increase in the frequency and the number of targets reflects an intensification of the conflict in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, which points the finger at Iran for supplying the weapons, meantime claims to have intercepted all incoming missiles.
The attack on the Abqaiq tanker on April 3 suggested the rebels have branched out, although the damage appeared limited and shipping industry sources have played down the overall risk.
**MARCH 25: Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted seven ballistic missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthi militants and aimed at multiple locations, including the capital, Riyadh, and locations in the southwest of the country near the border with Yemen. Of these, Jizan is home to a 400,000 b/d refinery project, which is due onstream in the fourth quarter of this year at a cost of $4 billion. The large number of targets suggested an intensification of militant attacks, though not necessarily of their destructiveness. In the Riyadh incident, one person, believed to be a foreign national, was killed and others injured by falling debris, the authorities said. Saudi Arabia has claimed success intercepting such attacks using Patriot missiles, although independent observers question their reliability.
**MARCH 29: Saudi forces intercepted another ballistic missile fired from Yemen and targeted at Jizan, the military said.
**MARCH 31: Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted a missile aimed at the southern city of Najran, near Yemen.
**APRIL 3: A Saudi VLCC tanker, the Abqaiq, came under attack by presumed Houthi militants off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah near the Bab al-Mandab strait, a shipping chokepoint. The tanker was heading to the Egyptian Red Sea port of Ain Sukhna, loading point for the SUMED pipeline to the Mediterranean. It diverted to the Saudi port of Jeddah after the incident.
**APRIL 4: Saudi forces intercepted another ballistic missile fired from Yemen toward Jizan. Saudi Aramco said there was no disruption of the refinery project.
**APRIL 11: Saudi authorities said they had made further interceptions, including a ballistic missile over Riyadh and a reconnaissance drone near the southwestern airport at Abha.
