Huthi fire from Yemen this month on the UAE, traditionally a haven of security in a turbulent Middle East, stirred alarm at home and abroad, but for many Saudis it s nothing new.
In the Jizan region of southwestern Saudi Arabia, the local population has had to live for years with the threat of sometimes deadly cross-border fire by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
Saudi defences have intercepted most of the Huthi missiles and drones targeting airports and oil infrastructure in retaliation for air strikes since 2015 in support of Yemen s embattled government by a Saudi-led Arab military coalition.
But the ones that made it through have caused casualties and damage.
“The first two or three times it was strange because that kind of thing doesn t happen in Saudi Arabia. But it s become a normal thing,” said a Jizan resident, a woman in her 30s clad in a black abaya robe, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject inside the Gulf kingdom.
Thunderous blasts have “rocked the house”, she told AFP. “After our scare from the noise, we return to our normal lives as if nothing happened.”
– We learnt to sleep peacefully –
Two people were killed and seven wounded in late December in the first deadly Huthi-claimed strike in more than three years on Jizan, the most frequent target of attacks inside the oil-rich country.
Jizan remains a tranquil Red Sea coastal region where families picnic on the beach as children play in the sand.
