Saudi intercepts missile fired towards Abha

Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired from Yemen on Wednesday, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The spokesperson of the Saudi coalition in Yemen said that the Houthis launched the missile towards populated areas in the city of Abha at 3.42pm local time.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Colonel Turki Al-Malki said that examination of the missile debris by specialists of the joint coalition forces found that it had the “characteristics and specifications” of coming from Iran.

He repeated previous claims that Iran was providing the Houthis with missile components to target civilian areas.

In December, a UN report stated that two launch units for anti-tank guided missiles recovered by the Saudi coalition in Yemen appeared to have been manufactured in Iran during 2016 and 2017, Reuters reported.

“The Secretariat found that they had characteristics of Iranian manufacture and that their markings indicated production dates in 2016 and 2017,” Guterres said in his biannual report to the Security Council on the implementation of sanctions on Iran.

“The Secretariat also examined a partly disassembled surface-to-air missile seized by the Saudi-led coalition and observed that its features appeared to be consistent with those of an Iranian missile,” he wrote.

Read: UN report says missile launchers found in Yemen appear to be from Iran

The kingdom has been targeted by hundreds of missile attacks since entering the Yemen civil war in 2015 to support ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against the Houthis.

In September last year, the coalition announced that 112 civilians and residents had been killed by nearly 200 missile attacks, while hundreds had been injured.

Read: Saudi says more than 110 citizens, residents killed by missiles from Yemen to date