Scores killed after Houthis fire ballistic missile at Saudi base

Scores of people were killed after Yemen's Houthi rebels said they fired a ballistic missile targeting a Saudi military operation room in the Kingdom's southwestern province of Jizan on late Wednesday evening, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.

"The missile hit the target in Samtah town, killing scores of the enemies including officials," Xinhua news agency cited a statement by the group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea as saying.

Saudi Arabia has yet to confirm the alleged attack.

Houthis have recently stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, but most of the attacks were intercepted by the kingdom's air defence systems.

On August 17, a bomb-laden drone attack by the Houthis caused a "minor fire" in a gas plant in an oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi authorities.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition against Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen for more than four years in support of the exiled internationally-recognised government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.