Saudi Air Defense intercepts ballistic missile fired by Houthis toward Najran

In this file photo, Saudi forces can be seen repelling a Houthi attack in Najran, near the Yemen border. (File photo: Reuters)

JEDDAH: Saudi air defense forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Houthi militias from Yemen’s Saada toward the city of Najran on Saturday. 
“The hostile action taken by the Houthi forces proves the continued involvement of the Iranian regime in supporting Houthi armed groups in clear defiance of UN Resolution 2216 and Resolution 2231,” said Col. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman for the Arab coalition supporting the legitimate Yemeni government. 
He said the Houthi attacks were aimed at threatening the Saudi, regional and international security, adding that firing ballistic missiles at populated cities and villages is contrary to international law.
Al-Maliki renewed his call for the international community to take more serious and effective steps to stop Iranian violations, including continued smuggling and the transfer of ballistic missiles and weapons to terrorist groups, and to hold them accountable for their defiance of international norms and values.
Last week, Saudi forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis toward Jazan. 
Meanwhile, Yemeni security officials said that unidentified gunmen abducted an employee at the UN migration agency in Sanaa.
The officials said that Hisham Abdel-Rahman Bagash was abducted a day earlier when a masked man led him out of his car and threatened him with a gun.
Bagash's father, Abdel-Rahman, said in a Facebook post that his son was accompanied by his wife at the time of the abduction but the kidnappers only took him. His whereabouts are unknown.