Saudi air defences on Friday intercepted a ballistic missile over the southern city of Najran after it was fired from rebel-held territory in neighbouring Yemen, a Saudi-led military coalition said. Debris from the missile landed in residential areas of Najran without causing casualties, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Yemen's Huthi rebels claimed the attack via their news outlet Al-Masirah, saying the "Badr 1" missile had targeted Najran. The Iran-backed insurgents have in recent months ramped up missile attacks against neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which leads a military coalition against them. A Huthi missile was intercepted over Jizan on Thursday after a similar strike on the southern city on Monday, according to Maliki, who said there were no casualties.
Saudi Arabia earlier this month tested a new siren system for the capital Riyadh and the oil-rich Eastern Province, in a sign of the increasing challenge posed by the rebels' arms. Riyadh accuses its regional rival Tehran of supplying the Huthis with ballistic missiles, a charge Iran denies. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies intervened in Yemen in 2015 to push back the rebels and restore the internationally-recognised government to power after the Huthis ousted it from swathes of the country including the capital Sanaa.
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