Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted a cruise missile over Medina as Houthis deny attack
Yemen Herald News 
MEDINA, Saudi Arabia — Saudi-led coalition air defences intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile over the Madinah region on Thursday, the coalition said.
The Houthi group denied carrying out any attack on Saudi territory that day.
Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, announced the interception. He said specialised units were ready to counter aerial threats and to protect civilians and infrastructure.
The account rests on the coalition. Yemen Herald found no origin for it independent of the coalition’s own statement, and no independent confirmation that a missile was launched.
The Houthis rejected it outright. They called the assertion that Medina had been targeted “a grave and blatant falsehood,” Yemen Monitor reported.
Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said the group had carried out no attack on Saudi territory on Thursday, according to Morocco World News. He spoke shortly after the coalition’s announcement.
The two sides routinely dispute each other’s accounts of attacks and interceptions.
No casualties were reported from the interception.
Al-Maliki said a drone was intercepted and destroyed over the Eastern Region the same day, Arab News reported. Other drones were shot down over Khamis Mushayt and in the south of the country.
The coalition said the Houthis were using “advanced weapons to carry out their attacks.”
Saudi Civil Defense issued warnings for Najran and Jazan before announcing that the danger to both had passed.
It repeated an interior ministry warning against filming, publishing or sharing information about the places where intercepted drones and missiles come down.
Riyadh has reported a run of launches this month.
Two cruise missiles were destroyed over the capital late on Tuesday, Arab News reported. Debris injured four people and damaged about 15 homes.
Debris from an intercepted ballistic missile injured one resident on Wednesday and caused limited damage to a house and a vehicle, the same report said.
A missile struck a terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, killing 13 people and wounding more than 300, Arab News and Al Arabiya reported. Those hurt included pilgrims, women and children. An earlier Saudi tally gave 12 dead and 309 injured.
The airport has been targeted 20 times since the start of October, Al Arabiya reported.
An attack on the headquarters of Saudi Aramco in Dhahran on Tuesday started a fire. Saudi authorities reported no injuries, Morocco World News said.
Hassan Jouni, a former Lebanese army brigadier general, told Al Jazeera the Dhahran attack showed the reach the Houthis had acquired. Dhahran lies about 1,200 kilometres from Houthi-held territory.
It was not the first dispute over Medina. The coalition said on 1 October that a Houthi drone had struck an electricity distribution station in the city, taking one transformer out of service without affecting the wider network, Al-Monitor reported. No casualties were reported.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency called that assertion a lie, according to the same report. A Houthi spokesman did not respond to a request for comment at the time.
Al-Maliki posted an image at the time showing what appeared to be signs of a projectile impact at an electricity site, Al-Monitor said.
The UN Security Council condemned the attacks in a statement on Thursday. Evangelos Sekeris of Greece, the Council president, issued it on behalf of all 15 members.
The Council condemned “continued and escalatory Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” and attacks and threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab. It affirmed Saudi Arabia’s right to self-defence under international law.
The exchanges follow an escalation inside Yemen. Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, announced an offensive against the Houthis on 4 October to retake lost ground, Al Jazeera reported.
The Houthis took Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including the port of Mocha and the Bab al-Mandab area, in a campaign in early September, according to Al Jazeera.
Fighting has since concentrated on Taiz governorate. Taiz city remains under government control, while much of the surrounding highland governorate is contested, Al Jazeera reported.
Ibrahim Jalal, a senior researcher and policy adviser, told Al Jazeera the Houthis were trying to isolate and constrict Taiz. Observers describe the battle for the governorate as a stalemate.
Saeed Thabet, head of Al Jazeera’s Yemen bureau, said control of Jabal Han, a mountain west of the city, would let the Houthis strike people and supplies entering Taiz from the south-west.
Government forces have closed roads into Taiz over fears of infiltration. Mocha’s port, once a supply route for the city, is now held by the Houthis.
Yemen’s Executive Unit for IDP Camps Management reported nearly 200,000 people displaced nationwide since early September, most of them from Taiz, Al Jazeera said. The governorate has nearly 4.5 million people.
UNHCR and the World Health Organization have warned that the fighting threatens Yemen’s health system, Al Jazeera reported.
A Houthi missile strike on the presidential palace in Aden killed five people and injured 16, Yemen’s health minister said, according to Al Arabiya.
The UN humanitarian plan for 2026 put 18.3 million Yemenis in acute food insecurity and 516,157 children under five in severe malnutrition.
Australia advised its citizens against travel to King Khalid International Airport, Morocco World News reported.
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