Coalition intercepts Houthi drone targeting Saudi Arabia from Yemen

The coalition said the drone was targeting Jazan. (AP/File photo)

A picture published on the Saudi Press Agency shows rising smoke from the incident’s location. (SPA)

• The attack comes after the militants used a civilian market place to launch a ballistic missile in Hajjah province

JEDDAH: The Arab coalition intercepted a Houthi drone launched from Yemen towards Jazan in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

Coalition spokesman, Col. Turki Al-Maliki, said the attempted attack “reflect the Houthis losses on the ground.”

Earlier, the coalition said the Houthis fired a ballistic missile late Wednesday from a civilian site located in Yemen’s Al-Hajjah governorate.

Al-Maliki said the missile was launched from a local market and fell within the same Yemeni governorate. It was unclear what the militants were targeting.

Such  “absurd attempts” are an extension to previous acts by the Iranian-backed militia that use civilian sites to launch their attacks from, Al-Maliki said.

He said the militia has previously used a university campus as a site to launch a missile that fell on residential neighborhoods in Al-Jawf governorate.

As well as using the missiles inside Yemen, the Iran-backed Houthis have launched dozens of strikes into Saudi Arabia, targeting civilian infrastructure such as airports and oil pipelines.

The coalition says Iran has supplied the Houthis with ballistic missile technology.The Houthis triggered the Yemen conflict when they seized the capital Sanaa from the internationally recognized government in 2014.