Saudi intercepts missile fired towards Jazan

The Saudi Air Force managed to intercept a missile that was fired by Houthi militias towards the city of Jazan on Sunday night, a day after three people were killed in a missile attack.

The spokesman of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition in Yemen Colonel Turki Al Malki confirmed that the ballistic missile was spotted at 8.09pm on Sunday, and was launched from the Saada province in Yemen, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

He said the missile was heading towards the city of Jazan and was “deliberately launched to target civilian and populated areas”.

The Saudi Royal Air Defense Forces were able to intercept and destroy it, with shattered debris falling over residential districts without causing any injuries, the report added.

The latest attack comes after three civilians were killed in Jazan on Saturday in a missile attack.

Read more: Three civilians killed in missile attack in Saudi’s Jazan

Al-Turki stressed that launching ballistic missiles towards densely populated cities and villages “is considered contradictory to the humanitarian international law”.

“This hostile act by the Iran-backed Houthi militias proves the continuing involvement of the Iranian regime in supporting the Houthi militias equipped with qualitative capabilities in a flagrant and explicit violation of the two UN resolutions No. 2216 and 2231 aiming to threaten the security of Saudi Arabia as well as the regional and international security,” he added.

Saudi Arabia has been the target of more than 120 ballistic missile attacks since entering the Yemen civil war in 2015 as part of the coalition.

Last week, Saudi air defences intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen towards the Red Sea coastal city of Yanbu.

It was targeting civilians, Al Malki said at the time.

Read more: Saudi intercepts missile fired towards Yanbu

In March, an Egyptian resident of Riyadh was killed after he was hit by debris from three missiles targeting the capital as part of a wider attack also aimed at Najran, Jizan and Khamis Mushait.