Illustrative image, source: the Houthis media wing.
On January 21, the Saudi-led coalition announced that its air defenses had intercepted a ballistic missile that was launched from Yemen.
In a brief statement shared by the Saudi Press Agency, the coalition claimed that the missile was launched by the Houthis (Ansar Allah) from the international airport of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The missile was supposedly on its way to strike a shopping center in the city of Khamis Mushait in the southern Saudi province of ‘Asir.
“The Houthi escalation … requires an immediate response to protect civilians,” the coalition’s statement reads.
A few minutes prior to the missile attack, the Giants Brigades, one of the Saudi-led coalition’s main proxies in Yemen, said that their fighters had shot down three suicide drones of the Houthis over the district of Ain in the Yemeni province of Shabwah and the district of Harib in the province of Ma’rib.
The Houthis have not commented on the claims made by the Saudi-led coalition and its proxies, yet. However, it is possible that the group carried out a missile and drone attack in response to the coalition’s recent deadly airstrikes on Yemen.
In a morning, a series of coalition airstrikes destroyed a prison in the province of Saada, the heartland of the Houthis. More than 60 people were killed as a result.
The Saudi-led coalition ignored the massacre. However, the Houthis vowed to response. The group’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, even called on foreign companies investing in the United Arab Emirates to “leave”.
