Saudi Air Defenses intercepted and destroyed on Sunday two ballistic missiles launched by Iranian-backed Houthi militias from Saada governorate in the Kingdom’s direction.
The official spokesman of the Arab Coalition, Col. Turki al-Maliki, said that the two missiles were launched deliberately to target densely populated areas.
He added the missiles caused no damage.
Meanwhile, Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi held a meeting Sunday with senior executive and security officials in the province of Hodeidah to discuss the situation there and to arrange for the delivery of humanitarian and relief aid along with preparations for a decisive solution in the battle to liberate the port city, official sources confirmed.
For their part, Houthi militias called for blocking all roads leading to the Hodeidah port with concrete slabs, after isolating the city’s southern neighborhoods with earth mounds.
Eyewitnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat that residents in the poor Ghalil neighborhood succeeded in forcing Houthis to move away artillery they had placed in the center of the neighborhood to attack the airport.
Placing artillery in such neighborhoods is a sign that rebels are gearing up for urban fighting in the city.
Also on Sunday, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthis detained around 10 days ago Hodeidah's governor, Hasan Al-Hayj, and placed him under house arrest at a military barrack after suspecting that he had contacted the legitimate government.
The sources said that Al-Hayj had last appeared on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, accompanied by Houthi-linked governors of Hajjah, Rimah and Mahweet provinces.
Separately, the Arab Coalition accused Houthis of seizing two ships loaded with oil derivatives in the port of Hodeidah two months ago.
