Saudi Arabia has appealed to regional countries for help to replenish the depleted stock of interceptor missiles for its US-made Patriot air-defence system as Yemeni rebels ramp up rocket and drone strikes on the kingdom.
A senior US official said the Biden administration supported the moves to source missiles from the Gulf amid concerns that Riyadh’s Patriot stocks could run out in “months” given the current rate of attacks on the kingdom by Houthi rebels. The US has to greenlight transfers of the interceptors.
“It’s an urgent situation,” the official told the Financial Times. “There are other places in the Gulf they can get them from, and we are trying work on that. It may be the faster alternative [to US arms sales].”