3 Saudi women injured in Houthi missile attack on Jazan

Three women were injured in a missile strike in the southern Saudi town of Jazan, the Saudi Press Agency reported yesterday, adding the projectile had been fired by the Houthis in Yemen.

According to the SPA, the spokesman for the Saudi Civil Defence in Jazan, Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, reported that the military had detected a missile from Yemen heading towards an area in the kingdom’s south.

The missile then struck Jazan, damaging a house and injuring three women who were then taken to a hospital where their conditions were stabilised.

This is not the first incident in which the Houthis – a Shia militant movement backed by Iran which has taken over vast swathes of territory in Yemen and unseated the internationally-recognised government – have conducted missile strikes indiscriminately targeting military and civilian sites.

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After five years of Yemen’s ongoing civil war, in which the Saudi coalition has aimed to reinstate the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and defeat the Houthis, the groups has successfully launched strikes and raids with its ground forces into the south of the kingdom.

The Houthis have been accused of committing a number of other human rights violations throughout the conflict in Yemen, including the forced conscription of young men, the seizure of medical aid sent by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the continued detention of journalists.

The attack on Jazan came as six Saudis were shot and killed in the south-west region of Assir. That incident, however, has not been confirmed to have been terrorism-related but adds to the unrest seen in the kingdom’s south in recent years.

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