Saudi air defence forces intercepted two drones launched byHuthi rebels from neighbouring Yemen, state media reported Tuesday, as theIran-aligned militia steps up attacks on the kingdom.
The drones targeted Khamis Mushait in the kingdom’s south onMonday and caused no damage or casualties, the Saudi-led coalition fighting inYemen said in a brief statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency(SPA).
The rebels said earlier via their news outlet Al-Masirahthat they had targeted the King Khalid airbase near Khamis Mushait.
The attacks come as SPA reported the coalition wasintensifying air raids on Huthi positions in the northern Yemeni province ofHajjah.
The rebels have stepped up drone and missile attacks on thekingdom amid tensions between Shiite power Iran and the United States, SaudiArabia’s main ally.
Last month, the Saudi air force shot down a bomb-laden dronedeployed by Huthi rebels that targeted Jizan airport, close to the southernborder with Yemen, the coalition said.
The airport is used by thousands of civilians every day, butthe coalition reported no casualties and warned the rebels of a strongresponse.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 topush back an advance by the Huthi rebels, who still hold the capital Sanaa, andto restore to power President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands ofpeople, many of them civilians, relief agencies say.
It has triggered what the UN describes as the world’s worsthumanitarian crisis, with 24.1 million — more than two-thirds of thepopulation — in need of aid.