Arab News

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Air Defense Forces intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles and six drones fired by the “terrorist Houthi militia” toward Saudi Arabia on Sunday night, the alliance said early Monday. 

Colonel Turki al-Maliki, spokesman of the Arab Coalition supporting Yemen’s legitime government, said the Iran-backed militia fired the missiles and booby-trapped unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from the Yemeni capital Sanaa toward civilian targets in Saudi Arabia.

It was fortunate that the weapons of war were destroyed before they could hit their targets, Al-Maliki said, without mentioning which places were targetted.

The Houthis have for the past five years targetted various civilian areas and industrial sites in the Kingdom. Among these were the airport in Riyadh, an oil refinery in the Eastern Province, various targets in western regions of Najran, Jazan and Asir, as well as the holy city of Makkah.

Al-Maliki accused the Houthi militia of escalating the hostilities to target civilians inside Yemen and neighboring countries and that such atrocities would not go unpunished.

He said the Coalition  and takes will “take the necessary operational measures to stop these terrorist acts … in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules.”