Pakistan condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Jizan

Pakistan has strongly condemned ballistic missiles and drones launched towards Jizan, Saudi Arabia on April 14-15 by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“It is commendable that Saudi forces intercepted and destroyed all projectiles successfully. Such attacks causing fear and terror are reprehensible,” the foreign office said in a statement on Friday.

Pakistan reaffirmed its full support and solidarity with the “brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against any threat to its security and territorial integrity”.

Saudi forces intercepted several attacks launched by the Houthis toward civilian targets in the kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday.

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“The Royal Saudi Air Defense has intercepted and destroyed on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning four bomb-laden UAVs and five ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi militia from the Sa’dah governorate [in Yemen] toward Jizan,” coalition forces’ spokesperson Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki was quoted as saying.

The Houthi militia “attempted to target a number of civilian objects protected under the international humanitarian law”, including Jizan University, he said, adding that the interception resulted in scattered debris on the campus, which caused a restricted fire that was contained without any losses to civilian life.

The Houthis have stepped up missile and drone strikes against Saudi Arabia in the recent months.