RIYADH – Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it had intercepted two missilesin Mecca province fired by Yemen’s Houthis.
A Saudi coalition spokesman said the Royal Saudi Defence Forces detectedaerial targets flying through restricted areas in the provinces of Jeddahand Taif and dealt with them accordingly.
Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Washington said the two missiles had beenintercepted in Mecca province, which includes Jeddah and Taif.
On the other hand, Houthis denied that their missiles were targeting thepilgrimage site Mecca, and termed the claim a tactic by Saudi Arabia torally support for its war.
“The Saudi regime is trying, through these allegations, to rally supportfor its brutal aggression against our great Yemeni people,” Houthi militaryspokesman Yahya Sarea said on Facebook.
The failed strikes come at a time of heightened tensions between Tehran andGulf Arab states and between Tehran and Washington as well.
*Drone Attack After Missile*
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Saudi Arabia alleged that Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a bomb-laden dronetargeting civilian infrastructure in a city along the kingdom’s border toYemen.
A statement early on Tuesday on the state-run Saudi Press Agency quotedSaudi-led coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki as saying the Houthishad tried to target the site in Najran.
The infrastructure was not elaborated, however, the term used in thestatement refers to hospitals, power plants and schools; the Houthis didnot immediately claim an attack there.
It was not clear if there were any injuries. Last week, the Houthislaunched a coordinated drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline amid heightenedtensions between Iran and the US.
A day earlier, Trump warned that a war would be ‘end of Iran’.
