Saudi Arabia says it shot down Scud missile fired from Yemen

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia shot down a Scud missile early Saturday fired into the Sunni kingdom by Yemen’s Shiite rebels and their allies, the country’s official news agency reported, marking what could be a major escalation in the monthslong war.

A Patriot missile battery shot down the Scud around 2:45 a.m. Saturday around the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The agency did not report any casualties in the attack.

Saudis on social media reported hearing air raid sirens go off around the city during the attack.

The agency blamed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies in forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition targeting the rebels in airstrikes that began March 26 in support of the country’s exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Those strikes have targeted arms cache and other Scud missile sites around the country.

The Houthis began their advance in September, sweeping into the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and taking over government ministries and other areas. They held top officials, including Hadi, under house arrest until Hadi fled, first to the southern port city of Aden, then to Saudi Arabia as the rebels closed in backed by forces loyal to Saleh.

The Saudi-led air campaign and ground fighting have killed more than 1,000 civilians and displaced more than 1 million people since mid-March, the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters Wednesday.

The offensive has so far failed to force the Houthis to withdraw from any territory they hold or blunt their advance in southern Yemen.

On Friday, the Houthis and Saleh’s forces launched a ground offensive targeting the Saudi border, which saw the kingdom fire artillery and launch Apache attack helicopters, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The agency reported “scores” of rebel forces being killed in a battle that lasted from dawn to noon Friday, with four Saudi soldiers killed in the fighting.

The Saudis and Western powers accuse the Houthis of receiving military support from Shiite power Iran as part of a larger proxy war between the Sunni kingdom and the Islamic Republic across the Mideast. Tehran and the rebels deny the allegations, though Iran has acknowledged sending humanitarian aid to the Houthis.

The strikes, as well as a Saudi-led air and sea blockade, have caused food, water and medicine shortages, sparking a humanitarian crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country.