The spokesman for the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, Turki Al-Maliki, announced that coalition forces intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles and four drones over the southern Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait and Jazan on Thursday evening, amid continued military escalation between the coalition and the Houthi group.
Al-Maliki said the coalition’s air defense systems intercepted and destroyed the two ballistic missiles over Khamis Mushait and Jazan, along with four drones over Khamis Mushait. He added that coalition forces would continue implementing operational measures aimed at deterring Houthi attacks.
Debris Causes Property Damage in Khamis Mushait
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense said debris fell in Khamis Mushait after a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward residential areas was intercepted.
The falling debris caused material damage to several buildings and vehicles, but no casualties were reported, according to the authorities.
Rival Accusations Over Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure
Amid the interceptions, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi warplanes of carrying out 47 airstrikes over the previous 24 hours. He claimed the strikes targeted what he described as civilian infrastructure, including telecommunications networks and schools, in the provinces of Taiz, Saada and Al-Jawf.
Earlier, Al-Maliki said a Houthi drone had targeted an electricity distribution station in Medina that supplies power to the Prophet’s Mosque. The attack reportedly caused one transformer to go out of service, but did not affect the wider electricity network.
Al-Maliki accused the Houthis of targeting civilian facilities serving the Prophet’s Mosque and said coalition forces would continue taking what he described as necessary measures to deter the group.
A Houthi military source, however, categorically denied that the group had targeted the electricity station in Medina, rejecting the accusations as false. The source claimed that the allegations were intended to distract from what it described as Saudi Arabia’s failure to substantiate an earlier accusation that the Houthis had targeted Mecca.
The latest interception announcements and competing accusations come amid continued military escalation in the region, with both sides offering conflicting accounts of recent attacks and their intended targets.
