Cairo, Oct 18. (dpa/GNA) – Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday, that it had intercepted more drones and missiles, which it said were fired by Yemen’s Houthis, as the oil-rich monarchy is locked in a military escalation with the Iranian-aligned militia.
Saudi air defences intercepted two ballistic missiles, launched by the Houthis towards the south-western city of Khamis Mushait, the Saudi-led military coalition said.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen, Turki al-Maliki, said the missiles were intercepted and destroyed, while two drones near the capital Riyadh were also intercepted. A third was intercepted in the oil-rich east of the country, according to al-Maliki. He provided no information on possible damage or casualties.
Al-Maliki denied a Houthi claim that the armed group had shot down a Saudi Apache helicopter. “It will enter the battlefield soon. Remember what it looks like,” al-Maliki said in a post on the social media platform X, reacting to a Houthi military spokesman’s claim.
Meanwhile, al-Maliki said a Saudi reconnaissance helicopter had crashed due to a technical malfunction in Najran in the country’s south-west near the Yemeni border, killing its two-pilot crew.
In recent weeks, the Houthis have stepped up attacks on neighbouring Saudi Arabia amid a renewed escalation of the war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia supports Yemen’s internationally recognized government, and has repeatedly carried out airstrikes against the Houthis as part of the Saudi-led military coalition.
GNA