JEDDAH – Saudi air defences intercepted a “ballistic missile” fired byYemeni rebels at the kingdom’s southern coastal city of Jizan, theSaudi-led coalition fighting the rebels said.

It was the latest in a series of such attacks.

“Saudi air defences intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Huthimilitias targeting Jizan,” the coalition said in a statement.

The Huthis, in a statement on their news outlet Al-Masirah, claimed thatthey fired a “Badr 1” ballistic missile and said it struck Jizan RegionalAirport.

AFP was unable to reach the airport for comment, but open-source flightinformation appeared to show flights arriving and departing on time.

Saudi Arabia has since March 2015 led a coalition of Arab states fightingto roll back the Huthi rebels in Yemen and restore its neighbour’sinternationally-recognised government to power.

Nearly 10,000 people have since been killed in the conflict, in what theUnited Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

In March, an Egyptian labourer became the first known fatality in a rebelmissile attack on the Saudi capital.

Saudi Arabia accuses its rival Iran of smuggling missiles to the Huthis –a charge Tehran denies. – APP /AFP