Saudi TV: Yemen rebel attack on airport sets plane on fire

Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Wednesday targeted an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia causing a civilian plane on the tarmac to catch fire, the kingdom’s state television reported, an attack that threatens to escalate Yemen’s grinding war. Firefighters brought the blaze at Abha airport under control, Saudi stateowned Al-Ekhbariya TV said, adding there were no reports of civilian casualties. Saudi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack soon afterward, with military spokesman Yehia Sarea saying the group used four bomb-laden drones to target the airport. “This targeting comes in response to the continued aerial bombardment and the brutal siege on our country,” Sarea said, stressing that the Houthis consider the airport a military not civilian target. Col. Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudiled military coalition fighting in Yemen, said the forces intercepted and destroyed two bomb-laden drones launched by Houthis toward the country’s south. He condemned the assault as a “systematic and deliberate attempt to target civilians.” Photographs later aired by Saudi state television showed the aircraft, a 3-year-old Airbus A320 flown by low-cost carrier FlyADeal.