New videos show Saudi air defenses defending against a ballistic missile strike from Yemen.

One of the Patriot missiles blowing up in mid air. The Drive/Warzone.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has fallen under ballistic missile attack yet again, as part of the war with the Houthi rebels. During that engagement the Saudis launched multiple Patriot missiles at the missiles and may have managed to shoot one of them down. 

None of that is new or even that noteworthy but some amazing footage is being released on social media. I'm going to post them below. 

Alhumdillah The saudi army has successfully intercepted a ballistic missile in the riyadh #saudiarmy #riyadh #riyadhnow #الرياض_الان
I hope everyone is safe and fine many prayers to the brave and strong army ❤️ 🇸🇦🇸🇦🇸🇦🇸🇦 #الرياض pic.twitter.com/n1ThqBpO1r

— Adnan (@adii_khaan) March 25, 2018

The first video shows a volley of three missiles being fired. It seems as though the first missile either exploded right away or managed to intercept the missile right next to the ground. I think a malfunction is the much more likely possibility. Later in the clip, it seems as though the missile impacted with something, so it is likely that one of the ballistic missiles were destroyed.

BREAKING: Saudi air defense intercepts ballistic missile over Riyadh; loud explosions heard across the capital pic.twitter.com/gprUbjEN8C

— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) March 25, 2018

The second video shows an explosion in mid air that indicates a successful hit on the incoming missile. That doesn't mean that the interception was successful but at leas they were able to hit the missile.

The #Saudi Air Defense :
Hitting what we were assigned to protect.#Riyadh pic.twitter.com/kXF9tCLkgL

— Wael (@WaelAlRussi) March 25, 2018

The final video shows a catastrophic failure of one of the patriots. Instead of hitting the incoming ballistic missile it shoots up and then slams down into the ground causing a huge explosion. This is pretty much the exact opposite of what these weapons are meant to accomplish.

 Overall this engagement was only a partial success for the Saudis. They managed to hit one of the enemy missiles though it's not clear that the missile was destroyed. On the other hand they had at least one critical failure and the first video probably shows a second. This isn't the greatest result for the Saudis vaunted missile defense system but those systems have never been super effective.