RIYADH: A projectile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit a village in Saudi Arabia’s southern Jizan province, wounding five civilians, state media reported.

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 were also 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 rebels have 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.

A Saudi-led coalition, which has been battling the Houthis for more than five years, says it has intercepted most of them. Sunni-ruled 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 seized Sanaa 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.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2020