RIYADH (AFP) — Four
workers were wounded Wednesday as the Saudi-led coalition fighting in neighboring
Yemen intercepted an explosives-laden drone targeting the kingdom's Abha
airport, state media reported.
اضافة اعلان
The coalition blamed the attack on Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels and said
the four workers sustained "minor" injuries from the drone's debris,
the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The coalition said it also destroyed the suspected site in Yemen's northern
Saada province from which the drone was launched.
There was no immediate comment from the Huthi rebels.
On August 31, a drone hit the same airport, wounding eight people and
damaging a civilian aircraft. Nestled in the kingdom's southwestern mountains,
Abha is a popular destination for Saudi tourists.
Wednesday's drone attack came shortly after the coalition said it destroyed
three booby-trapped boats on Yemen's Red Sea coast.
"They were equipped to carry out hostile operations and imminent
attacks," SPA cited the coalition as saying.
"The coalition efforts have contributed to the protection of
international shipping lanes and trade in the Bab al-Mandab strait and the
southern Red Sea."
Saudi Arabia intervened to shore up the beleaguered Yemeni government
in 2015, shortly after the Huthis seized the capital Sanaa.
The rebels have repeatedly targeted the kingdom with cross-border drone and
missile attacks they say are a response to coalition bombing of rebel-held
areas.
The attacks have escalated since August as the rebels press an offensive
against the strategic oil-producing region of Marib, the Saudi-backed
government's last toehold in the north.
Yemen's grinding conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and
displaced millions, resulting in what the United Nations calls the world's
worst humanitarian crisis. While the UN is pushing for an end to the war, the
Huthis have demanded the reopening of Sanaa airport, closed by a Saudi blockade
since 2016, before any ceasefire or negotiations.
Read more Regional news
.jpg)
.jpg)
