MANILA — No Filipino was affected by the latest missile strike against Saudi Arabia, which killed three in the southern city of Jizan on Saturday, the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said.
Consul General Edgar Badajos said “a projectile” was fired by rebels from Yemen that targeted Jizan, a major oil distribution center south of Jeddah that hosts an estimated 15,000 Filipino workers.
Reporting to the home office, Badajos confirmed that no Filipino was among the three casualties in the incident.
While the Consulate has been constantly reminding members of the Filipino community to take the necessary precautions, it expressed “confidence” that the Saudi missile defense system could protect the Kingdom from incoming missiles.
The Philippine government for its part expressed condolences to Saudi Arabia following the death of three civilians.
“We express our condolences with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the unfortunate loss of lives in the missile strike in Jizan,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Monday night.
On Sunday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported that the Kingdom intercepted another ballistic missile towards the city of Jizan, which was fired from the rebel-held territory in Yemen.
The agency said debris landed in residential areas of Jizan but no casualties were reported.
Saudi Arabia, which hosts almost a million Filipino workers, has repeatedly been targeted by Houthi rebels fighting a Saudi-led military coalition supporting the internationally recognized government of deposed Yemen President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. (Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA)
