A retaliatory drone attack by the Yemeni armed forces on Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport on 10 February left 12 people with light injuries.
According to Saudi media outlets, the 12 were injured by falling debris when the drone was intercepted and destroyed by the country’s air defense systems.
The Saudi press agency quoted the spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, Brigadier General Turki al-Malki, as saying that Saudi defense forces had destroyed a drone launched towards Abha airport.
He also said that “firm operational action” would be taken in response.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesperson for the Yemeni armed forces confirmed that they carried out the attack on the airport.
In a message published on his Twitter account, Saree said the coalition has been using Abha airport to launch military operations against Yemen. He urged citizens to stay away from the airport.
1-The drone force targeted an important military site at Abha airport with a Qasef-2K drone, the designated target has been hit with high precise .
— Yahya Sare'e (@Yahya_Saree) February 10, 2022
The coalition frequently uses Abha airport, which lies close to the border with Yemen, to launch air strikes on Yemeni cities and towns. It has been targeted by Houthi missiles and drones seven times since 2019, with one attack in mid-2019 killing a Syrian national and wounding seven.
In recent weeks, the Yemeni armed forces have launched multiple missile and drone attacks, hitting different targets in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for the Saudi-led coalition aggression against the Yemeni people.
Yemen’s armed forces have warned that the attacks will continue for as long as the coalition attacks Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition launched a brutal air and ground assault on Yemen in early 2015 in an attempt to destroy the Ansarallah resistance movement and restore the government of former Saudi-backed president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
Despite spending billions on the brutal war and having a huge arsenal of weapons, the coalition has failed to achieve any of its stated objectives.
In recent months, the Yemeni armed forces have made significant gains against the coalition.
On 10 February, the Yemen army announced that it had intercepted and destroyed a drone belonging to the Saudi-led coalition.
The CH-4 drone was conducting a reconnaissance mission over Hajjah province in northwestern Yemen, and was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, The Cradle reports.
The Houthis have also more recently turned their attention to the United Arab Emirates, targeting it with drones and missiles four times since mid-January. There are around 5,000 US troops stationed in Abu Dhabi, and although the US ceased offensive operations against the Houthis last year and the UAE withdrew its ground troops from Yemen in 2020, both nations continue to support the Saudi-led campaign there.
Yemen’s civil war has been described by the UN as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” At the end of 2021, the UN Development Program estimated a death toll of 377,000 people, with around 70% of those killed under the age of five, and 60% killed by indirect causes like hunger and preventable disease following the Saudi-led blockade and sanctions by Western governments.