Saudi-led coalition downs Houthi drone fired at airbase

A Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels said Sunday it shot down a drone fired from Yemen toward a Saudi airbase and airport in the southwest of the kingdom, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The coalition forces intercepted and downed a drone launched from the city of Sanaa in the direction of Khamis Muchait’s residential neighbourhoods,” coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki told Saudi Arabia’s SPA news agency.

Rebel spokesman Yahia Sarie earlier said several drones had been fired toward King Khaled airbase and Abha airport in Khamis Mushait city.

He said the attacks targeted the control towers of the Abha airport.

READ: US drone downed in Yemen

“The attacks had caused to disrupt aviation at the airport,” he alleged.

On Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted drones fired by the Houthi rebels toward the airbase.

Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when the Iran-aligned Houthi group overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated the following year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen and supporting the country’s pro-Saudi government.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the raging conflict since 2016, according to UN estimates.