Saudi military forces using two U.S. supplied Patriot missiles shot down a SCUD missile aimed at the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait from Yemen. WND reported 3 weeks ago that the Iranians had succeeded in smuggling in Scud B and C missiles to the Houthi rebels, a Shiite faction fighting to take over Yemen.
This is a major escalation of the Yemen insurgency, effectively an attack on Saudi Arabia by Iran through the Houthi rebels. This was the first use of ballistic missiles in this conflict and, according to Jordanian officials could endanger Saudi Arabia and interrupt the flow of oil on a global basis.
Khamis Mushai is the home of King Khalid Air Base the largest air base in the area, apparently the target of the attack.
Saudi Arabia leads a coalition of mostly Muslim countries that have been targeting the rebels with airstrikes since March 26. The coalition backs exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The Houthi rebels are loyal former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The civil war there has killed over 1000 people and displaced closed to a million.
A story from WND three weeks ago documented the smuggling operation by Iran, which was successful despite the presence of U.S. aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The story further noted that Russian navy ships were attempting to clear a path for Iranian vessels to bypass the U.S. fleet to deliver weapons to Yemen.
Commentary: Note the parallel to the cold war days. Ostensibly a civil war between rival factions in a small unimportant (to us…) country. Next layer a serious foe in Iran attacking an ally, Saudi Arabia. Next layer Russian navy being passive aggressive with U.S. navy.