Saudi-led coalition intercepts Houthi missile

The air defences of the Saudi-led coalition on Thursday intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Houthi rebels toward Yemen's southern port city of Aden, a security official told Xinhua.

"The Houthis aimed at targeting the main headquarters of the Saudi-led coalition forces with a ballistic missile, but the attack was aborted," the local security source said on condition of anonymity, Xinhua reported.

The missile attack, which targeted the coalition's headquarters based in Aden's district of Buraigah, caused no casualties among the Saudi-led coalition forces.

Aden's district of Buraigah has key military bases of the Saudi-led coalition and the United Arab Emirates fighting the Houthis in Yemen.

Residents told Xinhua that "loud explosions were heard near the coalition's headquarters."

Yemen's Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani confirmed the incident on his official Twitter account, saying "the coalition's air defences shot down a missile over Aden."

But according to local media, the Saudi-led coalition downed two ballistic missiles.

In July, the Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for targeting the coalition's main camp in Aden with drones, threatening that "there will be no safe place for coalition leaders or gatherings in Yemen."

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to roll back the Shiite Houthi rebels and support the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Since September 2014, the rebels have seized control over much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, and forced Hadi and his government into exile in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia.

The war has so far killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced 3 million others, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

--IANS

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