Yemen's Houthis fire ballistic missile at Saudi airport

SANAA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi movement on Tuesday said it fired a ballistic missile toward a regional airport in Saudi border province of Jizan, Saba news agency reported.

Houthis said the missile is a short-range one, giving no further details.

However, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV channel reported that the Saudi defense forces shot down the missile over Jizan.

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

Last week, Houthis fired a long-range ballistic missile toward a military airport of Apache helicopters at the Saudi Special Forces camp in the Saudi border province of Najran.

Al Arabiya reported that the Saudi air defenses intercepted the missile and destroyed it over Najran.

Also last week, the Houthis 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 the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

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 Sanaa.

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