DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Wednesday targeted an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia with bomb-laden drones, causing a civilian plane to catch fire on the runway, state television said. The attack threatened to intensify Yemen’s oppressive war.
No one was hurt in the attack, but the damaged passenger plane at Abha airport served as a powerful reminder of the danger that the Houthi rebels pose to Saudi Arabia, which almost six years ago launched a bombing campaign that devastated the poorest country in the world. Arab world.
Houthis aligned with Iran soon took responsibility for the attack, with military spokesman Yehia Sarea emphasizing that the Houthis regard Abha airport as a military rather than a civilian target.
“This selection of targets comes in response to the continued aerial bombardment and brutal siege of our country,” said Sarea, adding that the group attacked with four bomb-loaded drones.
Col. Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen, said the forces intercepted and destroyed two drones launched by Houthis towards the south of the country. He condemned the attack as a “systematic and deliberate attempt to target civilians”.
Photos later transmitted by Saudi state television showed the aircraft, a 3-year-old Airbus A320 flown by low-cost airline FlyADeal. It looked like the drone had drilled a hole in the fuselage, with burn marks on the metal. A state television anchorman said there were no injuries on the ground due to the fire. FlyADeal did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since 2015, Houthis fighting the Saudi Arabian-led military coalition have targeted international airports, along with military facilities and critical oil infrastructure, in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis repeatedly used drones against Saudi Arabia, including launching them against the kingdom’s Patriot missile batteries, most recently on Sunday, when the coalition said it had intercepted five “trapped” drones. These attacks, usually near the southern cities of Abha and Jizan, have injured dozens and killed at least one person in recent years.
In late January, US forces stationed at Prince Sultan Air Force Base, near Riyadh, trained Saudi troops on how to contain the threat posed by drones, which can fly low to the ground, escape radar and detonate against targets in the kingdom. .
In November 2017, the Houthis arrived at Riyadh’s international airport, inside the kingdom. No one was hurt in the attack, which marked the first time that a Houthi missile came so close to a densely populated center. Riyadh is about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) north of the border with Yemen.
Saudi officials blamed Iran for supplying ballistic missiles to the Houthis used in such attacks against the kingdom. Tehran denies having armed itself with the Houthis, despite evidence to the contrary.
The attack on Wednesday afternoon was the first to impact a civil aircraft on the premises. Flight tracking sites showed delayed and canceled flights scheduled to take off or land at the airport. The flights at Abha airport resumed some time after the attack.
The United States Air Force Central Command, based at Al-Udeid Air Force Base in neighboring Qatar, declined to comment on the attack.
In recent weeks, Houthis have stepped up their efforts to take control of Marib, a stronghold of Yemen’s oil-rich government, and have intensified their international attacks on the kingdom. On Tuesday, UN envoy Martin Griffiths said he was “extremely concerned” about hostilities in Marib, especially at a time of “renewed diplomatic momentum”.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, met with the new US special envoy to Yemen Timothy Lenderking, Saudi state media reported, to discuss efforts to reach a political solution to the conflict.
The Yemeni war started in 2014, when the rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north of the country. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, intervened months later to evict the Houthis and restore the internationally recognized government. The war killed about 130,000 people and created the worst humanitarian disaster in the world.
President Joe Biden called attention to the brutal conflict, declaring last week that the United States would end its support for the Saudi-led military offensive, including the sale of “relevant” weapons. The government has also taken steps to suspend the designation of a terrorist against the Houthis, citing the need to mitigate Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.
But Biden emphasized that the United States will continue to help Saudi Arabia defend against external attacks, as part of maintaining security, counterterrorism and military ties to the kingdom, a strategic and global oil giant.
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Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.