*RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Saturday intercepted a missile fired from aHuthi-held territory in neighbouring Yemen, state media said.*

A coalition statement published by the state-run SPA news agency said theballistic missile had been fired from the northern Yemeni province of Saadatowards the southern Saudi city of Najran. No casualties were reported.

The Iran-backed Huthis have ramped up missile attacks against Saudi Arabiain recent months, which Riyadh usually says it intercepts.

Earlier this month a five-year-old child was wounded when the rebels fireda rocket at the southern Jizan province, Saudi authorities said at the time.

In 2014, the Huthis overran the Yemeni capital and seized control of muchof northern Yemen as well as a string of ports on the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies intervened in theconflict between Yemen’s government and rebels in March 2015, aiming topush back the Huthis and restore the internationally recognised governmentto power.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the Yemen conflict since the 2015intervention, 2,200 of them children. The war has pushed thelong-impoverished country to the brink of famine. – APP/AFP