Kingdom targeted again: Saudi forces intercept ballistic missile launched by Houthi rebels; no casualties reported

Riyadh, September 4: Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Monday fired a ballistic missile in the direction of Saudi Arabian city of Jizan from Saada Governorate in Yemen targeting the civilians. Notably, firing missiles on Saudi Arabia frequently shows that Iran backed Houthi rebels have intensified their movement against Kingdom.

 

Saudi Arabia’s air defence forces intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Houthi rebels towards a densely populated civilian area in the Saudi Arabian city of Jizan from Saada Governorate in Yemen. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. While the defence forces further said that the missile did not cause any major damage as it was immediately destroyed.

Colonel Turki Al Malki said the Coalition Air Defence detected the launch of the ballistic missile, which was fired "deliberately" by the terrorist Al Houthi militias towards a densely populated civilian area in the Saudi city of Jizan.

"This hostile act carried out by the terrorist Iranian Houthi militia proves that the Iranian regime continues to provide the Houthi militias with advanced weapons capabilities, in flagrant defiance of UNSC Resolutions 2216 and 2231, with the main objective of threatening Saudi Arabian, regional and international security," he continued.

Al Malk, in the end, reiterated that the launch of ballistic missiles towards civilian populated areas is a direct breach of the principles of the international humanitarian law.

This comes almost a week after Houthi rebels fired two Zelzal-1 missiles in the direction of Saudi Arabian provinces of Jizan and Nazran targeting the gatherings of Saudi soldiers. An Iran based Press TV claimed that no immediate reports on possible casualties or the extent of damage caused by the first missile, but the second left a number of Saudi troopers killed and wounded and military vehicles destroyed in the Najran area.

Importantly, the Iran-backed Houthis have ramped up missile attacks against Saudi Arabia in recent months. This is the 163rd incident when Houthi rebels fired ballistic missiles targeting residential areas of Kingdom since the year 2015. In June this year, at least three civilians were killed after the Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile targeting the Jazan province in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has been embroiled in a violent conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Yemeni forces. Since 2015, the Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Yemeni forces at Hadi’s request.

An estimated 6,00,000 civilians have been killed or wounded since the beginning of the Saudi-led campaign. 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.