Saudi Arabia ‘Downs Scud Missile Fired By Yemen Rebels’

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Saudi Arabia has said it has shot down a Scud missile fired into the kingdom by Houthi rebels and forces allied to the former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Aljazeera reports:

“At 2:45am on Saturday morning, the Houthi militias and ousted [president] Ali Abdullah Saleh launched a Scud missile in the direction of Khamees al-Mushait, and praise be to God, the Royal Saudi air defences blocked it with a Patriot missile,” a statement by the leadership of the Saudi-led joint Arab military coalition said.

The statement came just hours after Saudi Arabia said its army had repelled an offensive by Saleh forces backed by Houthis fighters on its Jizan province, which borders Yemen, according to state media. Dozens of armed men, believed to belong to Republican Guard units loyal to Saleh, died in Friday’s attack, which the Saudi security sources said was the biggest since the conflict in Yemen began.

The Saudi armed forces said in a statement that four of their soldiers had died of injuries sustained during the attack. “The Armed Forces repelled the offence which was aiming to penetrate the border, in an attempt to achieve, … a moral victory to compensate the casualties among the aggressors’ ranks,” the Saudi statement said.

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