Saudi Arabia has never publicly acknowledged possessing DF-15 missiles but has a history of acquiring ballistic missiles from China.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Debris found in Yemen may show that Saudi Arabia used a Chinese-made DF-15A ballistic missile in combat for the first time, potentially revealing a previously undisclosed weapon in the kingdom’s closely guarded missile arsenal, TWZ reported.
Images circulating online appear to show wreckage from a DF-15A short-range ballistic missile, although neither the identification of the missile nor Saudi ownership has been confirmed. Tyler Rogoway also highlighted the apparent use on X.
It remains unclear whether the missile reached its intended target. The wreckage could indicate that it separated in flight, broke apart or crashed.
The Houthis are not known to possess weapons capable of intercepting it.
The possible deployment comes as fighting between Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the Houthis has intensified following years of relative calm after the 2022 truce.
Houthi forces have overrun government positions around Marib and Taiz while increasing missile and drone attacks against military and energy targets in southern Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis have also declared the Bab el-Mandeb closed to Saudi oil traffic, threatening an important route for the kingdom’s energy exports.
The DF-15A is part of a family of road-mobile Chinese ballistic missiles developed beginning in the 1980s.
The DF-15A reportedly entered Chinese service in the mid-1990s. Estimates for the family’s maximum range vary from about 600 kilometers (373 miles) for the original DF-15 to as much as 900 kilometers (559 miles) for later versions.
China is the only confirmed operator of the DF-15 family, although disputed reports have previously linked variants to Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Syria.
Saudi Arabia has never publicly acknowledged possessing DF-15 missiles but has a history of acquiring ballistic missiles from China.
Riyadh secretly obtained Chinese DF-3A missiles beginning in the late 1980s and has subsequently been linked to the DF-21 family.
If confirmed, use of the DF-15A would give Saudi forces another way to strike fixed Houthi targets deep inside Yemen within minutes without sending Saudi aircraft and crews into the immediate combat area.
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