Riyadh claims to down missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis

By Ahmed al-Masri

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AA) - Saudi air defenses intercepted a "ballistic missile" fired by Yemen’s Shia Houthi militia into Saudi territory, the leadership of a Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition said Thursday.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, coalition officials said the missile -- which reportedly targeted Saudi Arabia’s southern city of Khamis Mushait -- had been shot down late Wednesday without causing damage.

According to the statement, Saudi air forces bombed the launch site in Yemen in retaliation for the missile attack.

Earlier Wednesday, Saudi television channel Al-Ekhbariya reported that Saudi air defenses had also intercepted "two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis at [Saudi Arabia’s] Asir region on the border with Yemen".

Yemen’s Houthi-linked Almasirah channel, for its part, later stated that a "mid-range ballistic missile" had struck its intended target in Asir but that "Saudi authorities are saying they intercepted it".

According to the same broadcaster, the missile was fired at Asir in response to an earlier attack by the Saudi-led coalition on a district of capital Sanaa, which has been held by the Houthis for more than two years.

Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when the Shia Houthi militia and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh overran Sanaa and other parts of the country.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a wide-ranging air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains in Yemen and shoring up the country’s Saudi-backed government.