Saudi Air defense forces have indicated they have destroyed Thursday a ballistic missile launched from within neighboring Yemen in direction to the southern city of Khamis Mushait, state-run news agency has reported.
The missile, according to Col. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman for Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, was launched at 8:20 pm local time.
It is unclear who launched the missile.
It is the second interception by Saudi forces of a missile launched from Yemen in about a month.
Defense forces destroyed early November a rocket near Ri-yadh international airport. The attack was blamed on Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels fighting the Saudi-led coalition, which has been trying since 2015 to restore President Mansour Hadi.
The Thursday attack follows threats by the rebels who pledged to hit the coalition in air, on sea and ground as re-prisal for blockade imposed on Yemen following the early No-vember attack.
The rebels on Thursday sent warnings of fresh missile attacks.
“Should the blockade continue, we know what (targets) would cause great pain and how to reach them,” said the Rebel Chief Abdulmalik al-Houthi.
Saudi Arabia pinned the early November missile attack on Iran and its Lebanon ally Hezbollah for smuggling the weapon into Yemen. Riyadh vowed it would not remain idle in face of fu-ture aggressions.
The coalition efforts to restore Hadi’s rule have failed with the legitimate President is still in exile in Saudi Arabia after being chased from capital Sana’a.
The rebels still control large swathes of the country now reel-ing with cholera outbreak and famine.
