The Foreign Office on Friday condemned a second missile attack on Saudi Arabia from Yemeni territory, which the Saudis said had been intercepted.
Pakistan “strongly condemns the attack and commends the timely action by Saudi forces to destroy the missile preventing any loss of lives,” the FO said in a statement.
“It demands the anti-government forces in Yemen to desist from attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the FO added.
Saudi Arabia had late Thursday night intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired from war-torn Yemen, state media reported. It was the second such attack in the month of November claimed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The missile targeted the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, with authorities reporting no casualties.
The attack took place just hours after the rebels threatened to retaliate over a crippling blockade on Yemen imposed by Saudi Arabia.
The blockade, which the United Nation warns is deepening Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, was imposed in response to a Houthi missile that was intercepted near Riyadh airport on November 4.
The missile attacks, which could further escalate the coalition’s military campaign, underscore how the raging Yemen conflict is increasingly spilling across the border, threatening Saudi towns and villages.
The Houthi-run Al-Masira television channel said Thursday’s missile hit a military target inside Saudi Arabia, but the coalition contradicted that claim.
“The missile heading towards the city of Khamis Mushait was intercepted and destroyed without any casualties,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki as saying.
Hours earlier, rebel chief Abdulmalik al-Houthi had threatened to retaliate if the blockade was prolonged. “Should the blockade continue, we know what (targets) would cause great pain and how to reach them,” he said in a speech broadcast on Al-Masira.
The Houthi rebels this month warned that they considered “airports, ports, border crossings and areas of any importance” in Saudi Arabia, as well as its ally the United Arab Emirates, legitimate targets.
