Coalition destroys three ballistic missiles launched by Houthis on Saudi Arabia

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels has said that it has intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by the group towards the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait.

Coalition spokesperson Maj-General Turki Al-Maliki said forces intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched toward the city at about 3 am, shortly after intercepting two other missiles targeting the same area. Reports suggested four Houthi drones were also intercepted.

Separately, Saudi Civil Defence said a Houthi projectile struck a school in Najran on Friday, causing material damage. No casualties were reported in the statement.

Meanwhile, Yemeni armed forces said they had carried out 474 airstrikes and precision targeting operations against Houthi sites, movements, reinforcements and military capabilities over the previous 24 hours.

The operations involved warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and rocket-launchers and covered multiple fronts, including areas south of Haradh, the coast, Kattaf, Marib, Al-Bayda, Lahj, Sanaa and Saada.The forces said operations were particularly concentrated on the Taiz fronts, where they targeted threat sources, Houthi gatherings and reinforcements, command and control centers and other military capabilities.

According to the statement, the operations resulted in 1,540 Houthi personnel being killed or wounded, most of them on the Taiz fronts, and 216 military vehicles and other capabilities being destroyed or disabled.

The operations also disrupted Houthi efforts to make a breakthrough on the Taiz fronts, the statement said.

The Yemeni armed forces said they would continue operations to restore state authority and protect the country’s security and sovereignty.

Two oil tankers have been struck by “unidentified projectiles” in the Strait of Hormuz region, a British maritime agency said Friday, in the latest threat to shipping in the waterway.

The Hormuz passage, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG passed before the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in late February and sparked the Middle East war, remains at the heart of the conflict.

Tehran has been blocking the passage of commercial ships, firing on vessels it accuses of unauthorised crossings.

Washington responded with a counterblockade of Iranian ports in an effort to prevent Tehran from exporting its oil.

The first attack caused “a small fire and blackout onboard”, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said Friday, adding that the fire was later extinguished.

There were no reported casualties or environmental impact, it added.

The vessel, which was exiting the strait, was able to resume its journey, UKMTO said, without specifying the ship’s ports of origin and destination.

Hours later, another crude oil tanker reported being struck by an “unknown projectile” east of Oman, with all crew safe and no environmental damage reported, according to the UKMTO.

The agency said authorities were investigating the incidents.–Agencies