Debris from a Houthi ballistic missile injures a resident in Saudi Arabia’s Asir region

Fragments of a ballistic missile intercepted in the air fell on the town of Ahad Rafidah, in the southern region of Asir, injuring a resident, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence announced, as Al Jazeera writes.

According to the Saudi statement, the missile was launched by Yemen’s Houthis and was destroyed in the air by defence systems, but its fragments fell on inhabited areas. Besides the injured person, the fragments damaged a prayer room inside a building, as well as the residential building itself.

The incident marks a direct escalation of the threat to Saudi civilians, at a time when fighting between Yemen’s government forces and the Houthis is intensifying on the Taiz fronts and around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Only a few hours earlier, the Saudi-led coalition announced it had intercepted three Houthi ballistic missiles over Saudi territory.

Missile and drone attacks from Yemen have continued unabated in recent weeks, hitting air bases, energy infrastructure and now also civilian areas in southern Saudi Arabia, while Riyadh is preparing, according to Reuters reports, a ground offensive against the Houthis to break the Red Sea blockade.