Saudi Arabia leads strikes on Houthi targets after bid to attack Abha

Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces carried out strikes on targets in Yemen after intercepting a drone that attempted to attack the kingdom’s Abha International Airport.

State media reported on Thursday that the coalition took “operational measures to deal with the sources of hostile cross-border attacks”.

The strikes were carried out in the provinces of Sanaa, Dhamar, Saada and Al Jawf, the report said.

It said workshops and warehouses for ballistic missiles, drones and communications systems were targeted in response to ballistic and drone threats.

The coalition said it targeted what was described as a secret plant for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which it accuses of being involved in attacks against the kingdom.

Earlier, the coalition intercepted and destroyed a drone that attempted to attack Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport in Asir province, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The military coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Iran-backed Houthi group ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital Sanaa.

On Wednesday, the UN called for the immediate release of two of its employees detained by Houthi rebels in Sanaa.

The employees, of Yemeni nationality, were held with no explanation and in breach of their international immunity, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“The Secretary General is deeply concerned about the arrests and detention of two UN staff members in Sanaa by the Houthis earlier this month,” he said.