Saudi Arabia intercept Houthi ballistic missile headed towards Khamis Mushait

RIYADH, 5th February, 2018 (WAM) -- The spokesman for the Coalition Forces Supporting legitimacy in Yemen has announced that at 7:23 a.m. this morning, the Saudi Royal Air Defence Forces intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias from the Sa'ada Governorate of Yemen towards the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency, SPA, has reported. The spokesman, Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, said that the missile was heading towards the city of Khamis Mushait and was deliberately launched to target civilian and populated areas. He said that this hostile action by the Houthi group proves the continuing involvement of the Iranian regime in supporting the Houthi armed group in a clear and explicit defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2231, in order to threaten the security of Saudi Arabia and regional and international security, and that the launching of ballistic missiles toward densely populated cities and villages is contrary to international humanitarian law. SPA said that Colonel Al-Maliki called on the international community to take more serious and effective steps to stop Iran's blatant acts of continuing the smuggling of arms and transferring of ballistic missiles to terrorist groups and outlaws, and to hold Iran accountable for its support and blatant defiance of international norms and values, threatening regional and international security.