ABHA: Saudi authorities have said that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have targeted Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia, causing a civilian plane on the tarmac to catch fire on Wednesday.
According to the state-owned Al-Ekhbariya TV, after the attack firefighters have brought the blaze under control. There was no immediate information on casualties.
Photographs aired by Saudi state television showed the aircraft, an Airbus A320 flown by low-cost carrier FlyADeal. It appeared the drone had punched a hole through its fuselage, with scorch marks on the metal.
The Abha airport, close to the Yemeni border, has been repeatedly targeted in Houthi missile and drone attacks. Those attacks have wounded dozens and killed at least one person over recent years.
Wednesday’s attack, however, represented the first one to reportedly damage a civilian aircraft at the facility. Flight-tracking websites showed delayed and canceled flights scheduled to either take off or land at the airport.
Soon after the attack, the Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for the assault, with military spokesman Yehia Sarea stressing that the Houthis consider Abha airport to be a military, not a civilian, target.
The spokesman further said the attack comes in response to the continued aerial bombardment and the brutal siege of the parts of Yemen, adding the group attacked with four bomb-laden drones.
Since 2015, the Houthis battling the Saudi-led military coalition have targeted international airports, along with military installations and critical oil infrastructure, within Saudi Arabia.
Yemen’s war started in 2014, when the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, intervened months later to dislodge the Houthis and restore the internationally recognized government. The war has killed some 130,000 people and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
