Saudi intercepts five missiles following air strike on Houthi leaders

Saudi air defence forces intercepted five missiles fired from Yemen on Saturday after coalition air strikes were reported to have killed two Houthi leaders.

Saudi-state broadcasters said early on Saturday that the two were killed in a coalition air strike on the Houthis’ Interior Ministry in Sanaa but gave no other details.

Later that day, a coalition spokesperson told Saudi Press Agency that four missiles were fired from Sa’dah governorate in the direction of the southern city of Jizan at 10:40am.

“The interception resulted in projection of fragments throughout some residential areas. No casualties were recorded up to the time of this release,” coalition spokesperson colonel Turki Al-Malki said.

A second attack at 12:46pm was fired towards Najran from inside Yemen.

The interception resulted in debris also being scatter over residential areas but there were similarly no injuries or casualties reported, according to SPA.

Al-Malki repeated claims that Iran was providing the Houthis with missile components and said the attacks deliberately targeted populated civilian areas.

Houthi forces have escalated missile attacks on the kingdom in recent weeks in response to coalition air raids.

Last Monday, two missiles were fired at facilities of oil giant Saudi Aramco following another attack on Najran on Sunday.

Read: Saudi intercepts missiles fired at Aramco facility

The kingdom suffered its first casualty from a missile attack last month 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

Saudi Arabia and Arab partners including the UAE entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to restore the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthi movement seized large areas of the country including the capital Sana’a.

The Saudi coalition said earlier this month that 119 rockets and 6,6259 projectiles had been fired across the border into the kingdom as of April 16.