Five injured as Houthi missile strikes Saudi village

Five civilians were injured when a military projectile launched by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis hit a village in Saudi Arabia's southern Jazan region, state media reported on Saturday.

The civilians had been rushed to hospital after suffering "minor injuries" from flying shrapnel, the official Saudi Press Agency reported late on Saturday.

Three cars had also been damaged in the border village, it said, without naming the village.

The Iran-backed Houthis have so far not claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Shia rebels had stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent months, mainly targeting southern provinces along the long border between both countries, as well as Riyadh.

The Saudi-led coalition, which has been battling the Houthis for more than five years, said it has intercepted most of the missiles.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons to the Houthis, a charge Tehran denies.

Assisted by western powers, including the United States, the coalition has struggled to oust a ragtag but highly motivated tribal militia that specialises in guerrilla tactics.

The coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government in 2015 after the Houthis had seized Sanaa, Yemen's capital, and closed in on the government's temporary southern base of Aden.

Since then, tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian disaster.