RIYADH: The Arab coalition supporting the legitimate government in Yemen on Saturday intercepted a Houthi drone targeting Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Maliki said the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), launched from Yemen’s Amran province by the Iranian-backed terrorists, was the latest in a series of drone attacks in “clear violation” of international humanitarian law.
He added that the attempted strikes against civilian targets in the Kingdom reflected the desperation of the militia in the wake of heavy personnel and equipment losses and highlighted Iran’s “criminal” threat to regional and international security through its proxy terrorist agents.
Al-Maliki stressed the coalition’s joint determination to combat the Houthi attacks in line with international humanitarian rules.
On Friday, a ballistic missile launched by Houthi militia from the Harf Sufyan district of Amran, landed in the Yemeni city of Saadah, the coalition reported, and a day earlier the coalition intercepted a Houthi drone targeted at the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait. Another ballistic missile, fired from Saadah last Wednesday, also landed inside the governorate.
On Tuesday, the coalition destroyed a Houthi UAV launched from Amran while it was still in Yemeni airspace, and later the same day a second drone headed for Khamis Mushayt was also intercepted.
FASTFACT
Saudi Arabia led a coalition intervention in March 2015 to restore the UN-backed Yemeni government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, which the Houthi militia ousted.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies entered the war in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis, who drove the internationally recognized government into exile in 2014.
The recent attacks are the latest launched by the militants, who have ramped up their efforts to target the Kingdom.
The Houthis have fired dozens of missiles into Saudi Arabia in the four-year conflict, but most of them have been intercepted by the Saudi military.
In July, an attack on Abha airport wounded nine civilians while a missile attack on June 12 on the same location wounded 26 civilians, drawing retaliatory strikes by the coalition on Houthi positions.
Another attack on June 23, also on the airport, killed a Syrian national and wounded 21 civilians, according to the coalition.
