Plane ablaze in 'Houthi drone attack' on Saudi airport

A civilian plane was engulfed in flames Wednesday after Yemen’s Houthi group launched a drone strike on an airport in southern Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities did not immediately report any casualties from the attack, claimed by the Houthis, the latest in a series of assaults on the kingdom.

“A cowardly criminal terrorist attack launched against Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia by the Huthi militia,” state-run Al-Ekhbariya television quoted the Riyadh-led military coalition as saying.

“A fire that engulfed a passenger plane due to the Huthi attack on Abha Airport is under control,” it added.

The coalition did not say how the attack was carried out, but earlier in the day reported that it had intercepted two “booby trapped” drones in the south.

Yahya Sarie, spokesman for the Houthis’ armed wing, claimed the airport was used to launch attacks on Yemen.

But the coalition insisted that targeting the airport constituted “a war crime” and “put the lives of civilian passengers in danger”, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

The Huthis have resumed an offensive to seize the Yemeni government’s last northern stronghold of Marib, according to a government source, with dozens of casualties on both sides.