Saudi-Led Coalition Reportedly Intercepts Explosive Drone Fired Towards City of Khamis Mushait

The Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces on Thursday intercepted and downed a ballistic missile launched by the Yemeni Shia rebel Houthi movement in the direction of the kingdom's southwestern province of Jazan.

The Saudi-led coalition intercepted a second explosive drone launched towards Khamis Mushait, according to the news outlet Al Arabiya.

Earlier in the day, Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen destroyed a bomb-laden unmanned aerial vehicle, which had been launched by the Houthis toward the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said on Friday.

"Joint Coalition Forces have intercepted and destroyed this morning (Friday) a bomb-laden UAV launched systematically and deliberately by the terrorist Houthi militia to target civilians and civilian objects in Khamis Mushait," Al-Maliki said in a statement, published by the Saudi Press Agency.

The war in Yemen has been ongoing since 2014 between the government forces and the Houthis, also known as the Ansar Allah movement. In 2015, the Saudi-led Arab coalition joined the fighting on the government's side.

Amid massive destruction and disruption as a result of the conflict, the United Nations considers Yemen the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with around 80 percent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance.