Dubai: The Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Al Houthis in Yemen said an explosive-laden drone launched on Tuesday by the group in the direction of Saudi Arabia had fallen inside Yemeni territory.
The Iran-aligned Al Houthis said earlier they had launched drone attacks on the airport of Abha in southwest Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Colonel Turki Al Maliki, denied that Abha had come under attack. Cited by the official Saudi Press Agency, he said a drone launched by Al Houthis from the Yemeni capital Sana’a fell over a residential area in Amran, a province controlled by the group just north of Sana’a.
Neither side reported any casualties.
Al Houthis, who control Sana’a, have stepped up attacks against targets in Saudi Arabia in recent months. In response, the Saudi-led coalition has targeted military sites belonging to the group, especially around Sana’a.
The attacks are complicating United Nations-led peace efforts. The western-backed coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore a Yemeni UN-recognised government ousted from power in Sana’a Al Houthis.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed millions to the brink of famine.
In the past week, violence has flared in the southern port city of Aden between government forces based there and southern forces.
However, the fighting in Aden stopped after calls from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The head of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) said he was ready to take part in Saudi-brokered peace talks.
Aidarus Al Zubaidi also said late Sunday that he was committed to a ceasefire in Aden, where the forces have seized the presidential palace and army camps.
