RIYADH (The Thursday Times) — Debris from two ballistic missiles intercepted over Saudi Arabia fell in a village in the Mecca region, the kingdom’s civil defence authority said on Thursday, as the World Health Organization reported that casualties from the renewed war in Yemen had risen to nearly 12,000.
The debris came down in the village of Sabuhah in Mecca province, the civil defence authority said, blaming the missiles on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis. It called the attack “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”. No casualties were reported.
The Saudi-led coalition said on Wednesday that it had intercepted three cruise missiles fired towards the Riyadh region, two ballistic missiles over western Saudi Arabia, and drones aimed at the Mecca and southern regions. The Houthis have denied targeting Mecca, saying they aimed at a pumping station in Yanbu and at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport.
A toll rising fast
Casualties from the fighting in Yemen reached 11,755 as of November 8, including 2,098 people killed and 9,657 wounded, the WHO said. More than 2,000 of those casualties were recorded in just nine days, with Marib and Lahij among the worst-hit provinces.
More than 320,000 people have been displaced since August 1, almost 16,000 of them in the past week, according to the UN agency. It said strikes had hit health facilities and ambulances, and that fuel shortages were disrupting emergency medical services in Taiz.
The war, which flared again this summer after years of an uneasy truce, pits the Houthis against forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which are backed by Saudi Arabia. Both sides have reported heavy fighting in recent days in al-Jawf, Marib, al-Bayda, and Taiz, and the government accuses the Houthis of shelling a crowded district of Aden.
Houthi attacks on the kingdom have stepped up alongside the ground war. Saudi air defences shot down three cruise missiles aimed at Riyadh earlier this week.
