Five killed as Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis trade attacks

Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi says Saudi claims that the group targeted Mecca are a ‘heinous lie’.Intensifying attacks between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis have reportedly killed at least five people in total, including three children.At least one person – a Yemeni resident in Saudi Arabia – was killed, and two others were injured after a Houthi drone was intercepted in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern governorate of Taif on Thursday, according to the kingdom’s civil defence agency.It is the first death announced in Saudi Arabia this month since Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis intensified their attacks.In Yemen on Thursday, the Houthis said “Saudi enemy warplanes targeted three telecommunications towers” in Taiz province.One civilian was killed in Taiz and another injured in strikes on the town of Abs, Yemen, said Houthi-linked Almasirah television.Houthi-backed media later reported that “three children were killed and several Yemeni nationals were injured in strikes by the Saudi-backed mercenaries”, a reference to the country’s internationally recognised government forces.Houthis reject claim they attacked MeccaThe escalation comes as Saudi Arabia said a drone was launched by the...