Middle East

Yemen’s Houthis say they fired two missiles at Saudi Arabia

Houthi rebel handout image said to be ballistic missile launch earlier this year (AFP/file photo)

Yemen's Houthi rebels fired two Zelzal-1 missiles in the direction of Saudi Arabian provinces near their border, the Houthis' Masirah TV said in a tweet on Sunday.

The two missiles targeted "gatherings of Saudi soldiers," one in Jizan and the other in Najran, it said.

A Houthi military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Iran-affiliated PressTV that the missiles were launched after they had carried out aerial reconnaissance with a drone.

Suspected cholera cases are on the rise in #Yemen, raising concerns of a possible “third wave” of the epidemic.
Since April 2017, 1.1 million+ suspected cases and 2,300+ associated deaths have been reported, making it the largest outbreak on record. pic.twitter.com/2DA3wby7ne

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) August 22, 2018

The Saudi armed forces did not confirm the attacks, Reuters reported. PressTV said there were no immediate reports on possible casualties or the extent of damage caused by the first missile, but the second left a number of Saudi troopers killed and wounded and military vehicles destroyed in the Najran area.

Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed alliance of Muslim Arab states trying to restore the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in 2015.

The war in the impoverished country has left almost 10,000 people dead and unleashed what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, which has brought many to the edge of famine and unleashed a cholera epidemic.

The Saudi-led alliance has carried out a campaign of thousands of air strikes and restricted imports into Yemen.

UN-brokered political talks on Yemen broke down in 2016 amid demands for a rebel withdrawal from key cities and power-sharing with the Saudi-backed government.

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