Saudi intercepts Yemen rebel drone targeting Abha airport
The Houthis confirmed Saturday’s attack, saying it was carried out by a drone
THE Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Saturday it had intercepted and destroyed an explosive drone launched by the rebel group at a Saudi airport amid a rise in such attacks on the oil-rich monarchy.
Saudi Arabia’s state television al-Ekhbariya said the drone was aimed at the Abha airport in south-western Saudi Arabia.
The attack took place on Saturday, according to coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki, who gave no further details.
The attack comes days after a similar assault at the same airport. On Wednesday, the coalition said a civilian plane had caught fire after an attack by the Houthis at the Abha airport without causing casualties.
“Terrorist attempts are systematic and deliberate to target civilians and civil facilities,” al-Ekhbariya reported Saturday, citing the coalition. Flight traffic is going on as scheduled at the Abha airport, the broadcaster said.
The Houthis confirmed Saturday’s attack, saying it was carried out by a drone.
“The attack was aimed at an important target at the airport. The hit was precise,” military spokesman for the rebel group, Yehia Serae said on Twitter, without giving details.
He added that the attack was in response to the Saudiled military offensive against them in Yemen.
In recent months, the rebels have intensified their missile and drone attacks on neighbouring Saudi Arabia. On Saturday, another rebel official vowed to continue the attacks until the Saudi campaign is halted.
“Stop the aggression and lift the siege on our people so that peace will be fulfilled for everyone,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam said.
“We have repeatedly said that our military operations are purely defensive,” he added on Twitter.
Last week, the US administration said it plans to revoke the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist movement, in a reversal of one of former president Donald Trump’s most criticized last-minute decisions.
Washington has also urged the Houthis to cease attacks targeting civilian areas of Saudi Arabia and to halt new military offensives inside Yemen.
Yemen has been roiled by a devastating power struggle between a Saudi-backed government and the Iran-linked rebels since late 2014.
US President Joe Biden has declared an end to US support for the military campaign in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia, a regional rival of Iran.
The con ict of more than six years in Yemen has pushed the country, one of the poorest in the Arab world, to the brink of famine and wrecked its health facilities.