RIYADH, June 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Saudi forces have intercepted two
explosives-laden Yemeni rebel drones, one of which targeted a southern city
that has repeatedly come under attack over the past week, a Riyadh-led
military coalition said early Tuesday.
One of the drones targeted a civilian area in Abha city and the second was
shot down over Yemeni air space after it was launched towards the kingdom,
the coalition fighting the Iran-linked Huthi rebels said in a statement
released by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The coalition reported no casualties from the attacks late Monday. Huthi-
run Al-Masirah TV reported earlier that the rebels had launched drone attacks
on Abha airport, which they have repeatedly targeted over the past week.
The rebels claimed another drone strike on Abha airport early Monday, but
it was not immediately confirmed by the coalition.
Last Wednesday, the coalition said a rebel missile attack on Abha airport
left 26 civilians wounded, drawing promises of “stern action” from the
military alliance.
Human Rights Watch denounced Wednesday’s strike as an apparent “war
crime”, urging the Huthis to immediately stop all attacks on civilian
infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
The rebels, who have faced persistent coalition bombing since March 2015
that has exacted a heavy civilian death toll, have stepped up missile and
drone attacks across the border in recent weeks and warned that coalition
airports were valid targets.
The attacks come amid spiralling regional tensions with Iran, which Saudi
Arabia has repeatedly accused of arming the rebels with sophisticated
weapons. Tehran denies the charge.
Following recent rebel attacks, Saudi state media has reported the
coalition was intensifying its air raids on rebel positions in the northern
Yemeni province of Hajjah and the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
The coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government in 2015 when
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled into Saudi exile as the rebels closed
in on his last remaining territory in and around second city Aden.
Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of
them civilians, relief agencies say.
It has triggered what the UN describes as the world’s worst humanitarian
crisis, with more than 24 million Yemenis — more than two-thirds of the
population — in need of aid.