Yemen’s Houthi rebels fire ballistic missile at Saudi military command

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Armed tribesmen, loyal to the Shiite Huthi rebels, brandish their weapons at a gathering in the capital Sanaa to mobilize more fighters to battlefronts to fight pro-government forces in several Yemeni cities, on June 20, 2016. The Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and went on to seize control of several regions, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED HUWAIS

Yemen‘s Shiite Houthi rebels said on Tuesday that they fired a ballistic missile toward a military command center in a Saudi border province.

The missile targeted the Saudi command center in Samitah area in the southwestern province of Jizan, the Houthis said in a statement carried by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

There were no comments yet from the Saudi side.

It is the latest in a series of ballistic missiles fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen toward Saudi cities since Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemeni war more than two and a half years ago.

Most of the missiles were intercepted and destroyed by the Saudi anti-missile system.

On Sept. 24, Saudi Arabia said its Air Defense Force intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile over Khamis Mushait in Saudi border province of Asir and bombarded its launch pad inside Yemen.

On July 27, Saudi said it intercepted a missile launched by Houthi militias toward the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of 10 countries and intervened in Yemen’s civil war in March 2015 to back the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against Iranian-allied Shiite Houthis who stormed the capital Sanaa and control much of the country’s north.

More than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war that also displaced more than 3 million others, according to UN agencies.

Yemen has also been hit by a deadly cholera epidemic and is on the brink of mass famine.