RIYADH – Yemen s Huthi rebels on Tuesday fired a rocket at Saudi Arabia ssouthern Jizan province, leaving a five-year-old child wounded, Saudiauthorities said.

The child was taken to a local hospital after the Katyusha rocket struck,civil defence officials said in a statement carried by the official SaudiPress Agency.

The Iran-backed rebels have ramped up missile attacks against neighbouringSaudi Arabia in recent months.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other allies intervened in Yemen in March 2015 torestore the internationally recognised government to power after the Huthisrebels ousted it from swathes of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

Saudi forces have previously said they have shot down Huthi missiles withPatriot surface-to-air missiles purchased from the United States.

The latest strike comes after Yemeni pro-government forces backed by SaudiArabia and the United Arab Emirates paused their push into the strategicRed Sea port city of Hodeida.

Saudi Arabia earlier this year tested a new siren system for Riyadh and theoil-rich Eastern Province, in a sign of the growing threat posed by therebels arms.

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

On June 24, Saudi air defences intercepted two missiles over the capitalRiyadh but no casualties were reported, state media said.

The attack came as Saudi women celebrated taking the wheel for the firsttime in decades after the kingdom overturned the world s only ban on femalemotorists. – APP/AFP