Saudi-led coalition intercepts Houthi drone - state media

DUBAI: The Saudi-led military coalition battling Yemen’s Houthi movement intercepted and destroyed a drone launched towards the southern Saudi Arabian city of Khamis Mushait, state media said on Sunday.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a Twitter post that two drones were fired at military hangars in Jazan airport in the south of the kingdom and a military air base in Khamis Mushait.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthis after the movement ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital Sanaa.

The United Nations and the United States have stepped up diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire deal, which Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government have welcomed. The Houthis are pushing for the full lifting of the coalition’s sea and air blockade on areas the group controls.

Houthi forces have also launched a ground offensive in Yemen’s gas-rich Marib region, the government’s last stronghold in the north.