Ballistic missile fired toward Saudi military radars: Houthis

SANAA, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi movement said its forces on Sunday fired a short-range ballistic missile on Saudi military radars in the Saudi border region of Asir.

In a statement posted on the group-controlled state Saba news agency, the Houthis said the locally-modified missile, Badr-1, hit the targets accurately.

However, Saudi Arabia has yet made comments on Sunday's Houthi claim.

Houthis have recently intensified such attacks with the completion the third year of Saudi-led war against the Iranian-allied militias in Yemen.

On Wednesday, Saudi forces intercepted a missile fired by Houthi militias towards border city Jazan, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The agency quoted spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthis, Col. Turki Al Maliki, as saying that the Houthi militia had fired 107 missiles, but the air forces have proven their competency in tackling such attacks.

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 Iran-aligned Shiite Houthis, in attempts to roll back rebels and reinstate President Hadi in the capital Sanaa.

In return, Houthis have fired hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Saudi cities, with most of them intercepted by Saudi air defense forces.

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