Houthi again targets Saudi Arabia; fires ballistic missile at Kingdom’s military base situated in Najran region

Dubai, January 21: Saudi Arabia again intercepts a short-range ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels that targeted the military base situated in southern Saudi province of Najran on Saturday. Fortunately, there was no casualty reported. This is the second time when Houthi rebels targeted Najran province of Saudi Arabia.

 

Immediately after the incident, the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for firing the rocket towards the camp in the Najran Region of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia intercepted a short-range ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels that targeted the military base situated in the southern Saudi province of Najran. Yemen’s Houthi rebels official al-Masirah TV and a Saudi military spokesman confirmed the incident. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

This is the second time when Houthi rebels targeted Najran province of Saudi Arabia while fourth such incident that took place within a time period of two months and another potential flashpoint in the volatile Saudi-Iranian relationship.

Importantly, this is the fourth time that a Houthi missile has come this close to a heavily populated area of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is around 1,000 kilometers, north of the country's border with Yemen. Earlier, this month a ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels which targeted the spot in the Najran Region of Saudi Arabia was intercepted.

In the month of December last year, Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over its capital city Riyadh. Interestingly, it was the same type of missile that was launched in the month of November last year at one of the kingdom's major international airports on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh. Saudi officials blamed Iran for being behind the launch of the Burkan 2-H rocket and described it as an act of war.

The civil war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 civilians and displaced 3 million others. Yemen is also suffering from the disastrous outbreak of cholera due to which 2180 civilians are killed while suspect cases have reached to 8,72,415 in the time period of 6 months.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying missile parts and expertise to the Houthis, who have taken over the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other parts of the country during its civil war. On the other side, Iran and the Houthis deny the charge.