Saudi air defences destroy ballistic missile fired from Yemen

Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi movement over the southern city of Jizan, the Saudi-led coalition said on Monday.

Earlier, the Houthis said the group had fired a Badr-1 ballistic missile at Jizan’s airport, without giving any further details.

The Houthis, an Iran-allied group that holds much of Yemen including the capital, Sanaa, have fired a series of missiles into the kingdom in recent months, part of a three-year-old conflict in Yemen widely seen as a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

A US-backed military alliance intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to fight against the Houthis on behalf of the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi, who lives in exile in Riyadh. Iran and the Houthis dismiss Saudi accusations that Tehran arms the group.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said Saudi air defence forces destroyed the missile over Jizan and accused the Houthis of targeting residential areas, according to a report from the official Saudi Press Agency.

The Houthis have fired a salvo of missiles at Saudi Arabia in recent months, including the capital, Riyadh, while the coalition launched thousands of air strikes against Houthi-held areas, killing hundreds of civilians at hospitals, schools and markets.

Another missile attack on Khamis Mushait was detected on Saturday. The coalition said one missile was intercepted and another fell in an empty desert area.

Read: Saudi intercepts missile fired towards Khamis Mushait

The kingdom suffered its first casualty from a missile attack in March when an Egyptian resident of Riyadh was hit by debris from three missiles targeting the capital as part of a wider attack also aimed at Najran, Jizan and Khamis Mushait.

Read: UN Security Council condemns Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia

With contributions from Reuters