Saudi air defense intercepts rocket fired from Yemen

All these attacks, as well as fighting on the ground in Yemen, came despite a seven-day ceasefire in conjunction with peace talks in Switzerland.

The official Saudi Press Agency quoted a spokesman for Yemen’s Alliance to Support Legitimacy, which supports embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi, as saying that the Saudi air force had also managed to destroy the platform inside Yemen from which the missile was launched.

Saturday’s incident, near Saudi Arabia’s southwestern border town of Najran, was the third to have killed Indian nationals since a Saudi-led military coalition began aerial attacks on Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen this March.

“How many civilians will die in unlawful airstrikes in Yemen before the coalition and its USA ally investigate what went wrong and who is responsible”, said Joe Stork, the group’s deputy Middle East director.

A halt to the violence is sorely needed in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation, where the UN says fighting since March has killed thousands of people and left about 80 per cent of the population needing humanitarian aid.

The coalition’s warplanes and troops have been supporting forces in Yemen loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against the Huthis and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Saudi-led coalition said its air defenses stopped the missile from reaching the kingdom’s southern Jazan district.

Saudi Arabia has deployed Patriot missile batteries created to counter tactical ballistic missiles.

Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman said “300 Saudi military and vital targets” had been chosen. Cross-border shelling has also killed dozens of Saudi border guards and soldiers.

“The coalition command made it clear that while it is keen to deal positively with the Yemeni government’s request for an extension of the truce, the continuation of the Huthi militias in their absurdity will push the command of the coalition to take harsh measures to deter such acts”, the Saudi-led bloc said.

An Iranian spokesman said Monday that diplomatic efforts were under way to open “direct dialogue” between rivals Tehran and Riyadh to resolve regional issues, including the Yemen conflict.