SANAA, Oct. 14, (Xinhua/GNA) – Yemen’s Houthi group said Wednesday evening, it had launched a fresh ballistic missile attack on King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh, and fired three other ballistic missiles at Yemeni forces.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the three ballistic missiles targeted the gatherings of Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition in the Ras al-Arah and Al-Mudarabah areas of southern Lahj province.
He claimed the strikes caused a large number of casualties and damaged several military vehicles.
The latest announcement came hours after the Saudi-led coalition said Wednesday, that it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward Riyadh. Loud explosions were heard in the Saudi capital earlier in the day, while residents received aerial-threat alerts on mobile apps.
Earlier in the day, the Houthis also claimed a large-scale missile and drone attack, targeting Saudi energy giant Aramco in Dhahran in the Eastern Province, and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh.
Meanwhile, the group also accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out dozens of strikes over the past 24 hours, while government forces claimed more than 2,300 attacks against Houthi positions.
In a separate statement on X, Sarea said Saudi-led coalition forces had carried out 42 strikes using warplanes and missiles on what he described as civilian facilities in the capital Sanaa and the provinces of Taiz, Lahj, Marib and Amran, as well as Mayyun Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Majid Al-Nuzaili, spokesperson for Yemen’s government forces, said in a statement that the forces had carried out 2,309 “precise and direct” attacks against Houthi positions using warplanes, drones, field artillery, rocket launchers and sniper units.
The spokesperson claimed the operations had neutralized about 1,250 Houthi fighters ,and destroyed or damaged more than 460 military vehicles and other equipment.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
GN