Cairo: A civilian plane at a Saudi airport caught fire after Yemen’s Al Houthi militia targeted the facility, the Arab coalition said Wednesday.
The fire, which hit the aircraft while it was on the ground of the Abha airport, was brought under control, the coalition said, according to the Saudi news agency SPA.
There were no reports of casualties.
“The attempt to target the Abha International Airport is a war crime, putting the lives of civilians in peril,” it added.
The coalition vowed to hold the “terrorists in the Al Houthi militia” accountable according to international law.
On Wednesday, the coalition said its forces had intercepted and destroyed two explosives-laden unmanned aerial vehicles fired by Iran-supported Al Houthis in the direction of Saudi Arabia, the latest such attacks by the rebels.
Earlier this week, the US said it intends to revoke the designation of Al Houthis as terrorists due to the humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country. The designation was a last-minute decision adopted by the administration of former president Donald Trump.
US President Joe Biden last week called for an end to the war in Yemen through a political solution. Biden also named Timothy Lenderking, a veteran diplomat, as the US special envoy for Yemen’s peace.
Both Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government welcomed Biden’s moves.
Al Houthis plunged Yemen into a devastating war in late 2014 when they unseated the internationally recognised government and seized parts of the country, including the capital Sana’a.
In recent months, Al Houthis have stepped up their cross-the-border attacks on Saudi Arabia.
