Yemen's Houthis fire ballistic missile toward Saudi target

Yemen's dominant Shia Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile toward a Saudi target, the group said in a statement.

According to the brief statement posted on Houthi-controlled Yemen News Agency on Thursday midnight, the Houthis said the missile was aimed at King Abdel Aziz International Airport in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on the Red Sea coast, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported an hour earlier that a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis from within Yemen's Saada province was intercepted 65 km from Saudi religious holy city of Mekkah, about 30 km southeast of Jeddah.

No damage or casualties were reported in the incident, SPA said, adding that the Saudi warplanes hit the missile launch site in Saada and destroyed it.

The Saudi-led Arab military coalition has been fighting Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen since March 2015, trying to restore the internationally recognised government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and dislodge Houthis from the capital Sanaa and northern provinces.

International efforts and talks between the war parties have been so far fruitless.

The attack on Thursday night was the latest in a series of ballistic rocketry strikes by the Houthis from Yemen, most of which were intercepted by Saudi military forces.

--IANS

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