Saudi air defence intercepts rockets fired by Yemen rebels

Launch pad in Yemen destroyed after missiles targeting Jizan are shot down.

Fighters loyal to the Yemeni government man a position in Marib province amid continued fighting against rebel forces. EPA / December 20, 2015

RIYADH // Saudi air defence units intercepted multiple missiles fired from inside Yemen toward the kingdom’s south-western border city of Jizan on Monday.

The rockets did not cause injuries or material damage and that the Saudi Air Force reacted immediately and destroyed the launching pad inside Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels said.

A Saudi official said the missiles were targeting Jizan’s civil airport and had been fired by Yemeni Houthi rebels. Fighting in Yemen has continued despite a ceasefire agreement.

Saudi Arabia has deployed Patriot missile batteries designed to counter tactical ballistic missiles.

Three civilians, two of them from India, died on Saturday when shellfire from Yemen struck the border city of Najran.

On Friday, the coalition said Saudi air defences intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Yemen and that a second missile struck a desert area east of Najran city.

Those attacks came after a local source reported that on September 13 another missile struck a desert area of the kingdom’s south, causing no damage.

All these attacks, as well as fighting on the ground in Yemen, came despite a seven-day ceasefire in conjunction with peace talks in Switzerland.

The talks between Yemen’s government and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels concluded on Sunday without a major breakthrough, hours before the latest missile attack.

The head of the Yemeni government negotiating team, Foreign Minister Abdel Malak Al Mekhlafi, said the much-violated ceasefire will be extended for seven days after it officially expires on Monday.

On Friday Saudi Arabia’s Border Guard force repeated a warning that residents should stay away from the frontier.

The coalition’s warplanes and troops have been supporting forces in Yemen loyal to President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi against the Houthis and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

More than 80 people, most of them soldiers and border guards, have been killed in shelling and cross-border skirmishes in the kingdom’s south since coalition operations began in Yemen.

In Abu Dhabi yesterday, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces met with leaders from Yemen’s resistance who have been fighting with UAE troops to defeat the Houthis.

He praised the resistance for showing “true patriotic allegiance and a sense of historic responsibility” and for recognising “how dangerous the rebels’ coup in Yemen was for pan-Arab security.”

*Agencies