Egypt condemns Houthis' missile attack on Saudi capital

Egypt strongly condemned the firing of a ballistic missile by Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"The Egyptian government and people stand in solidarity with Saudi Arabia's government and people and support the measures taken by the kingdom to protect its security and stability against such a brutal aggression," said the statement.

The Houthi rebels fired a long-range missile on King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday night, according to Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

Meanwhile, Saudi government said the missile fell and exploded north of the airport causing no casualties.

Yemen has been suffering a civil war for three years, since Houthi rebels supported by forces of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh ousted the UN-backed transitional government led by fleeing President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi and occupied the capital Sanaa in September 2014.

Saudi-led Arab military coalition has been launching a war against the Houthi rebels since March 2015, saying it aims to restore Hadi's legitimacy.

From March 2015 to March 2017, the civil war, ground battles and airstrikes killed over 10,000 Yemenis, half of whom are civilians, injured about 40,000 and displaced over 2 million, according to humanitarian agencies.

The war-ravaged Arab country also suffers growing outbreak of cholera that killed more than 2,000 people since April, according to a report from the World Health Organization.

The war has also pushed the country into the brink of famine, with 13 million people lacking food security and an estimated half a million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

source: AFP