Drone Attack on Saudi Airport Wounds 8, Damages Plane

A bomb-laden drone targeted at Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport left eight people injured and a civilian plane damaged.

Citing the Saudi-led coalition, local media reported that a second explosive hostile drone was intercepted and shot down.

This is the second such attack on the airport in the last 24 hours. The first one carried out yesterday caused on casualties.

On Sunday, a missile and drone attack hit the Al-Anad airbase in Lahj province killing at least 30 troops, making it one of the deadliest attacks in Yemen's civil war in recent years.

Iran-backed Houthi militia repeatedly claim responsibility for drone attacks on facilities belonging to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has been supporting the Yemeni government since 2015, conducting air, land, and sea operations against the Houthis, who, in turn, often strike back with retaliatory attacks.

On 10 February 2021, Houthis used four drones to carry out a drone strike on the airport, damaging a civilian aircraft (a Flyadeal Airbus A320) and starting a fire.

Notable attacks by the rebels in the past include the one on Riyadh's international airport in November 2017 with their Scud-Type Borkan-2H missile; and a drone/cruise missile attack on Saudi oil fields in September 2019 that temporarily reduced 5% of global oil supply and sent its prices spiralling upwards. The former sent alarm bells ringing as Riyadh is nearly 1,000km north of the border with Yemen.