DUBAI (Reuters) – The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement towards the south of the kingdom on Tuesday after intercepting several drones launched the previous night.
Violence has surged between the Western-backed alliance and the Houthi group after a six-week ceasefire prompted by the coronavirus pandemic expired last month.
A coalition statement said the missile was launched towards the southern region of Najran. It earlier said that it had destroyed several armed drones fired towards the southern city of Khamis Mushait late on Monday.
A Houthi military spokesman said in a Twitter post that the Khamis Mushait attack was in response to coalition air strikes. There was no immediate confirmation of the missile attack.
On Monday, the Houthi health minister said in a Twitter post that a coalition air strike killed 13 people, including four children, in Saada province. A coalition spokesman did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
In the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Tuesday, several residents said coalition warplanes struck military sites south and west of the city.
The coalition later said it had carried out heavy air strikes on Houthi targets in Sanaa and neighbouring Omran provinces, Saudi state-run Ekhbariya news reported from a coalition statement, without further details.
The Houthis ousted Yemen’s Saudi-backed government from Sanaa in late 2014, prompting the coalition to intervene.
The uptick in violence comes as Yemen combats the spread of the novel coronavirus among an acutely malnourished population.
The United Nations says the virus is spreading unmitigated in a country with shattered health systems and inadequate testing capabilities and that infections are likely much higher than official reports.
The Saudi-backed government based in the south has announced 834 cases, including 208 deaths. The Houthis, who control most big urban centres, have not provided figures since May 16 when authorities said there were four cases, with one death.
(Reporting by Reuters Yemen team; Writing by Lisa Barrington, Editing by William Maclean)
