The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned what it called “escalatory” attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia, including “reckless strikes” on Riyadh's airport.

The Saudi capital's international airport has been targeted 20 times since the beginning of the month. An attack last weekend killed 13 people and wounded more than 300.

In a joint statement shared by the Security Council's president, Greece's Evangelos Sekeris, the 15-member body “condemned in the strongest terms continued and escalatory Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, as well as “continued Houthi attacks and threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait”.

The statement also “affirmed the inherent right of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of self-defence in accordance with international law”.

Since the airport attack, the Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday that it had intercepted a missile in the region of Medina, one of Islam's holiest cities. The Houthis, who have repeatedly said they would spare Islam's holy sites, denied responsibility for the attack.

The Houthis also launched a deadly missile attack on Thursday on the presidential palace in Aden, the interim capital of Yemen's internationally recognised government. The strike hit command centres inside the compound used by government forces and the Saudi-led military coalition supporting them.

Yemen's Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said five people were killed and 16 injured in the attack, “among those working to guard the site and civilian employees”.

Yemen's civil war, in which Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition supporting the government since 2015, reignited in September following the collapse of a years-long truce.