Saudi shoots down Houthi missile fired at Najran

riyadh — The Royal Saudi Air Defence Force intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Houthi militias towards the southern Najran city on Thursday evening, a military spokesman said.

According to the Kuwaiti News Agency (Kuna), Spokesman of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen Colonel Staff Turki Al Malki said in a Press release that the Royal Saudi Air Defence Force traced back the missile and found that it was launched from Amran governorate, northwest Yemen.

The missile’s aim was to target heavily-populated areas but it was destroyed in midair in Najran, Colonel Malki added, noting that no casualties resulted from the attack.

The hostile act by the Iranianbacked Houthi militias again proved the Iranian regime’s persistence in providing this militant group with weapons in contravention of the UN Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2231, Al Malki said.

He stressed that such attacks against populated areas in Saudi Arabia posed a threat to not only the security of the kingdom but that of the region and the world at large; they are also a flagrant violation of the international humanitarian law.

He urged the international community to adopt effective measures to force Iran into halting arms supplies to the terrorist groups.

Thursday’s attack took to 88 the total number of such attacks by militant groups on Saudi Arabia since the start of the conflict in Yemen, Kuna added.

Meanwhile, the Yemen National Army has made rapid advances in Al Qubaita district, north of Lahej Governorate, killing and wounding dozens of Houthi rebels. According to Yemen News Agency, the Yemeni armed forces liberated the strategic Jabal Al Hamam area after fierce battles with the Houthi militias.