Coalition military destroys sites used by Houthis to launch missiles at Saudi Arabia

Riyadh : A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia said yesterday it had destroyed sites used by Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen to launch missiles at the kingdom. The coalition announced in a statement the “destruction over the past 24 hours of ballistic missile sites run by the Houthi militias in Saada”, a northern Yemeni province bordering Saudi Arabia and controlled by the Houthis.

Riyadh and its allies are fighting alongside Yemen’s government against the Iran-backed Houthis in a war that has killed thousands and pushed impoverished Yemen to the brink of famine. Saudi Arabia’s government-run Al Ekhbariya TV aired a 49 second clip showing black and white ariel footage of what it said was a coalition strike on Saada. The footage could not be independently confirmed.

Saudi Arabia has come under increasingly frequent missile attacks launched by the Houthis from northern Yemen this year. The kingdom’s air defence forces say they intercepted all missiles, and only one casualty has been reported. Saudi Arabia, the biggest crude exporter in the world, last week announced it had temporarily suspended oil shipments through the Bab Al Mandab Strait after a Houthi missile attack on an Aramco vessel. The strait connects the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea and is a crucial passage for oil and trade.