Saudi Arabia intercepts Yemen rebel missile

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Saturday intercepted a missile fired from rebel-held territory in neighbouring Yemen, where a Riyadh-led coalition is fighting the insurgents, state media said.

A coalition statement published by the state-run SPA news agency said the ballistic missile had been fired from the northern Yemeni province of Saada towards the southern Saudi city of Najran. No casualties were reported.

The Iran-backed Huthis have ramped up missile attacks against Saudi Arabia in recent months, which Riyadh usually says it intercepts.

Earlier this month a five-year-old child was wounded when the rebels fired a rocket at the southern Jizan province, Saudi authorities said at the time.

In 2014, the Huthis overran the Yemeni capital and seized control of much of northern Yemen as well as a string of ports on the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies intervened in the conflict between Yemen’s government and rebels in March 2015, aiming to push back the Huthis and restore the internationally recognised government to power.

Riyadh accuses its regional rival Tehran of supplying the Huthis with ballistic missiles, a charge Iran denies.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the Yemen conflict since the 2015 intervention, 2,200 of them children. The war has pushed the long-impoverished country to the brink of famine.