Arab coalition in Yemen shoots down 8 drones and 4 Houthi missiles targeting Saudi

The Arab coalition announced yesterday that its forces shot down eight “booby-trapped” unmanned aircrafts and four ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis towards Saudi territory.

Turki Al-Malki, spokesman for the coalition forces, said the Houthi group launched eight booby-trapped drones targeting the kingdom late on Monday evening, according to Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Al-Malki added: “The joint coalition forces managed to intercept and destroy them.”

He pointed out that, on Tuesday morning, the Houthi militia fired three ballistic missiles from Yemen’s Saada governorate. The Arab forces were able to intercept two which were heading towards the city of Najran and a ballistic missile targeting the city of Jizan in southern Saudi Arabia.

Al-Malki said: “These terrorist attempts by the Houthi terrorist militia and previous attempts of terrorist operations targeting innocent civilians and civilian objects as well as population gatherings threaten the lives of hundreds of civilians in a deliberate hostile operation.”

READ: Saudi coalition targets Houthi arms depot in Yemen

He considered that these attacks are a flagrant violation of the international humanitarian law and are contrary to human norms and values.

He explained that the coalition also intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis from Sanaa toward the Saudi capital Riyadh, “in a deliberate and systematic hostile operation to target civilian objects and civilians,” he said.

In turn, the Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, wrote on Twitter that he will issue an important statement in the coming hours.

Yemen has been suffering from an ongoing war between pro-government forces and Houthis who have controlled several provinces, including the capital Sanaa since 2014.

This has led to what the UN has declared is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, as 80 per cent of the Yemeni population is in need of assistance, in a country that suffers from almost complete collapse in all its sectors, especially the health sector.