Saudi-led Coalition Says Downed Explosive-Laden Drone Of Yemeni Houthi Rebels - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2021) The Saudi-led coalition said it had downed an explosive-laden unmanned aerial vehicle of the Yemeni Shia Houthi rebels, media reported.

On Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen said a civilian plane at the Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia caught fire as a result of an attack carried out by the Houthi movement. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saria responded by saying the opposition movement hit warplane airfields at the Abha airport via four drones on Wednesday afternoon and the strike "was accurate."

"The explosive-laden drone launched by the Houthi units toward [the Saudi city of] Khamis Mushait has been intercepted and destroyed," the coalition said on late Wednesday, as quoted by the Saudi state-run Al-Ekhbariya broadcaster.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi rebels since 2014. A coalition of states led by Saudi Arabia launched a military operation to support the internationally recognized Hadi government in 2015. The Houthis continue to maintain control over a vast part in the north of the country, including the capital of Sanaa.