Britain contradicted claims made by Riyadh that the Yemeni army launched a missile attack against shrines in the Kingdom’s holy city of Mecca two days ago.
On its official website, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office stated that "On 27 October a SCUD missile was fired from ... territory in Yemen, apparently targeting Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport".
The Foreign Office advised its citizens in the Kingdom "against all travel to within 10km of the border with Yemen and against all but essential travel between 10km and 80km of this border".
The statement tends to agree with the official version of the Yemeni forces and the popular committees, who announced last Friday that they targeted the King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah hitting it with a "Volcano 1" ballistic missile.
The Saudis initially claimed to have intercepted the ballistic missile launched by the Houthi Ansarulah movement. The spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition Ahmed Asiri said that the projectile was shot down 65 kilometers from Mecca, suggesting that the holy city was the target.
Ansarullah officials, however, dismissed Riyadh’s allegations as ridiculous, describing the claims a "repugnant attempt to incite Muslims emotions". For his part the Yemeni army spokesperson Brigadier Sharaf Luqman declared that the operation was "successful and achieved its allocated objective".
Saudi Arabia began its deadly campaign against Yemen in late March 2015. The strikes were meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
About 10,000 people have been killed and over 16,000 injured since Riyadh launched the airstrikes. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure.
Yemeni forces have been engaged in retaliatory attacks against the Saudi forces deployed in the country as well as targets inside Saudi Arabia.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
