Warning against new attacks on Saudi Arabia

The Arab coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen warned of a tough response if the militants launched more attacks on Saudi Arabia using drones supplied by Iran.

“If the Houthis continue targeting industrial or residential facilities, the response will be hard and painful,” said Col Turki Al Malki, the Saudiled coalition’s spokesman.

Col Al Turki displayed remnants of an intercepted drone at a news conference on Monday in the eastern city of Al Khobar. Last week, Riyadh shot down two drones in southern Saudi Arabia and intercepted ballistic missiles fired from rebel-held parts of Yemen.

On Monday, the Iran-backed Houthis fired a missile towards the southern Najran province, which was intercepted by Saudi air defence, the latest in a series of similar incidents. Col Al Malki said the airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital, Sanaa, was being used as a military base to organise the drone strikes.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government said last week that the drones used to attack Saudi Arabia were made in Iran, that its military did not own such aircraft and that it was impossible to make them locally.

The Houthis have fired dozens of missiles into Saudi Arabia since last year, all of which were intercepted.

A major attack targeted Riyadh’s international airport on November 4, and another on December 19 was aimed at Yamamah Palace in the city, the king’s official residence.

After entering the war at the request of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi on March 26, 2015, a Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, has helped pro-government forces to retake much of the territory captured by the rebels, but Sanaa remains under rebel control.