Saudi blames Iran for coalition jet missile attack in Yemen

Saudi officials have blamed Iran for a missile attack on one of the fighter jets operated by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The jet was intercepted at the operations field at 3.48pm on Wednesday by a “hostile air defense missile launched from Saada airport, but the fighter managed to complete its mission, deal with the source of fire and return safely to base,” SPA quoted the official spokesman of the Coalition Forces Col Turki Al-Turki as saying.

Al-Turki said the Yemeni air defense capabilities were not capable of launching the missile attack, since they were “destroyed by the coalition following the control of the Houthi militias of the heavy and qualitative weapons”.

He claimed this was “evidence that the Iranian regime is continuing smuggling qualitative field capabilities to the terrorist Houthi militias in a flagrant challenge to the world community resolutions”.

“The possession of new air defense missiles at the hands of the terror organisations is considered a serious development and a direct threat to the air navigation and relief and humanitarian trips,” he added.

Also read: Trump, Saudi crown prince discuss Yemen, Iran

The Saudi coalition in Yemen has intercepted dozens of missiles and projectiles fired by the Houthi rebels in Yemen since it got involved in the country’s civil war in March 2015.

Earlier this week, a Saudi national was injured in the city of Najran when debris fell from a missile allegedly fired from Yemen.

Last month, Saudi officials said rockets fired by Houthi militias in Yemen injured three children near the Saudi port city of Jazan.

Read more: Saudi says Houthi rockets injured three children

Saudi officials have said that the missiles have been targeted at “civilian and populated areas”.