Yemen's Houthis fire ballistic missile at Saudi military airport

SANAA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's dominant Houthi movement said it fired on Thursday a ballistic missile toward a military airport in Saudi border province of Najran, Saba news agency reported.

The missile targeted the military airport of Apache helicopters at the Saudi Special Forces Camp in Najran, Houthis said in a statement without providing further details.

The Saudi-owned satellite TV channel Al Arabiya, however, reported that Saudi air defenses intercepted the missile and destroyed it over Najran.

It is the fifth long-range ballistic missile attack by the Yemeni Houthi rebels on the neighboring oil-rich Gulf state in two months.

On Wednesday, Houthi rebels threatened to cut off the Red Sea shipping line if the Saudi-led coalition forces keep advancing toward the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, according to Houthi-controlled Saba agency.

On Dec. 19, 2017, the Houthi movement fired a ballistic missile toward the royal palace in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Saudi state news agency said the missile was intercepted and destroyed, causing no casualties.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of Arab forces, backed by the United States, to intervene in Yemen's conflict to back the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The coalition has launched thousands of airstrikes on the Houthis, in attempts to roll back rebel gains and reinstate Hadi in the capital Sanna.

The war has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and pushed the country to the brink of mass famine. Enditem