The Houthi movement in Yemen announced that it had fired a ballistic missile at a regional airport in the province of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, according to the Saba agency. Houthi said the missile is short-range, without giving further details. However, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV channel reported that Saudi Defense Forces shot down the missile on Jizan. It is the sixth ballistic missile attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels on the nearby oil-rich Gulf state in two months. Last week, Houthis launched a long-range ballistic missile towards an Apache helicopter military airfield in the Saudi Special Forces camp in Najran Province, Saudi Arabia. Al Arabiya reported that Saudi air defenses intercepted the missile and destroyed Najran. Also last week, the Houthis threatened to cut the Red Sea shipping line if Saudi-led coalition forces continue to advance towards the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, according to the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of Arab forces, backed by the United States, to intervene in the Yemen conflict to support the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The coalition has launched thousands of airstrikes on the Houthis, in an attempt to nullify the rebel gains and reintegrate Hadi in the capital Sanaa. The war killed more than 10.000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and pushed the country to the brink of mass famine.
