RIYADH, Aug 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Saudi Arabia intercepted six missiles
fired by Yemeni rebels at the southern city of Jizan on Sunday, a Riyadh-led
military coalition said, as the insurgents escalate cross-border attacks.
The missiles fired by the Iran-aligned Huthis targeted civilians in Jizan,
the coalition said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press
Agency.
No damage or casualties were reported.
The rebels’ Al-Masirah television said the Huthis had launched 10 “Badr 1”
ballistic missiles targeting military aircraft and apache helicopters in
Jizan airport and nearby military sites.
Earlier Sunday, the coalition said they shot down a Huthi drone fired
towards the southern city of Khamis Mushait, site of a major military base.
The Huthi rebels have stepped up cross-border missile and drone attacks in
recent months, saying they are in retaliation for the Saudi-led air war in
Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons
to the Huthis, a charge Tehran denies.
Tensions in the Gulf have soared since May.
US President Donald Trump called off air strikes against Iran at the last
minute in June after the Islamic republic downed a US drone.
The US and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran for multiple attacks on tankers in
sensitive Gulf waters.
The coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government in 2015 after
the Huthis seized the capital Sanaa and closed in on the government’s
temporary base of Aden.
Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of
them civilians, relief agencies say.
It has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis.