Saudi Arabia says it intercepted Houthi missile launched from Yemen

Saudi air defences on Sunday intercepted a ballistic missile fired from rebel-held territory in neighbouring Yemen, state media reported, as a Riyadh-led military coalition pushes a major offensive to capture a strategic port.

The missile, which targeted the southern city of Jizan, left a Pakistani national wounded, the coalition said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The Houthi rebels said via their news outlet Al-Masirah that the missile had targeted a military camp in Jizan.

The rebels, who control the country's north including capital Sanaa, have in recent months ramped up missile attacks against neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which leads a military coalition that has fought them since 2015.

The latest strike comes as Yemeni pro-government forces are locked in heavy fighting with rebels as they press a Saudi and UAE-backed offensive to retake the key aid hub of Hodeidah.

Last Sunday, Saudi air defences intercepted another ballistic missile over Jizan, but no casualties were reported, state media said.

A day earlier, three civilians were killed in Jizan when Houthi rebels fired a "projectile" at the province, according to the coalition.

Saudi Arabia last month tested a new siren system for the capital Riyadh and the oil-rich Eastern Province, in a sign of the increasing threat posed by the rebels' arms.

Riyadh accuses its regional rival Tehran of supplying the Houthis with ballistic missiles, a charge Iran denies.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies intervened in Yemen in 2015 to push back the rebels and restore the internationally recognised government to power after the Houthis ousted it from swathes of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

Almost 10,000 people have been killed since the alliance intervened in Yemen in March 2015, contributing to what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.