RIYADH – Saudi Arabia on Wednesday intercepted a missile fired fromrebel-held territory in neighbouring Yemen, where a Riyadh-led coalition isfighting the insurgents, state media said.
The ballistic missile was fired from the northern Yemeni province of Saadatowards the southern Saudi city of Najran, but no casualties were reported,said a coalition statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The Iran-backed Huthis have ramped up missile attacks against Saudi Arabiain recent months, which Riyadh usually says it intercepts.
Wednesday s attack brings the tally to 162 rebel missiles launched since2015, according to the coalition, which that year joined the Yemenigovernment s fight against Yemen s Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
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 their allies intervened in theconflict the following March, aiming to push back the Huthis and restorethe internationally recognised government to power.
Riyadh accuses its regional rival Tehran of supplying the Huthis withballistic missiles, a charge Iran denies.
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.