Yemen’s Houthis fire 11 missiles at Saudi Arabia

At least 11 missiles were fired from Yemen into the southern border village of Al-Tuwal in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi-owned news channel Al Arabiya has confirmed.

The attack comes after the Saudi-led coalition forces were attacking Iran-backed Houthi and Saleh militia targets across the border this afternoon near the Saudi border cities of Jazan and southern Dhahran. The Houthi and Saleh forces fired the missiles into Saudi Arabia in retaliation. The Houthi rebels have routinely been firing missiles into Saudi Arabia in recent months, including at least two incidents where they fired missiles towards the Islamic holy city of Makkah.

Last weekend, a 48-hour ceasefire enacted by the Saudi Arabians but accepted by the Houthis was breached 180 times in less than 24 hours by the Shia militant group. Yemen, which is the Arab world’s poorest country, has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Shia Houthis overran its capital city Sana’a and other parts of the country.

Yemen has been locked in a bitter battle between Houthi rebels allied with forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh against government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, along with local tribes and resistance forces backed by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed as a result of the conflict with millions displaced as a result of the fighting.