Dubai: With the Saudi-led coalition forces within 30 to 40km of the Al Houthi-occupied capital Sana’a, the militants and their allies are retaliating with more missile strikes on the kingdom, coalition spokesperson Brigadier General Ahmad Al Assiri said.
A Patriot missile shot down a Scud fired from the Yemeni capital towards southern Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the coalition said, a day after another Scud attack.
Debris from the destroyed Scud fell in the kingdom’s Jazan border province, causing no injuries, Al Assiri said.
He said Al Houthi militants launched the Scud from Sana’a, which is around 200km from Jazan, which they seized in late 2014.
The Saudis have deployed Patriots designed to counter tactical ballistic missiles, which have been fired occasionally since March when the coalition began air strikes in support of the Yemeni government after Iran-backed Al Houthi militants seized much of Yemen.
In April last year the Saudi defence ministry said coalition strikes had removed threats to the kingdom’s security “by destroying heavy weaponry and ballistic missiles” seized by Al Houthis.
Vehicle-borne Scud ballistic missiles have a much longer range and more powerful warheads than the rockets and mortar bombs that have struck the kingdom’s southern border regions, killing about 90 civilians and soldiers since the coalition intervention began.
The UN says more than 6,100 people in Yemen have been killed in the conflict since March, about half of them civilians.
On Monday the coalition said air defences intercepted a Scud fired at Khamis Mushait, a city near the King Khalid Air Base, which is at the forefront of Saudi-led air operations against Al Houthis and their allies — elite troops loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said it may be possible to hold talks over the next few weeks on ending the conflict in Yemen.
“Over the course of the next week it may become possible to try to engage in some productive conversations about how to bring that conflict to a close,” Kerry told reporters after talks at the State Department with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir. He did not elaborate, saying only that they discussed the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
- With inputs from agencies
