Riyadh
Saudi Arabia said it foiled a Houthi drone attack on a southern airport on Saturday just days before the new US administration is to stop designating the Yemeni rebels as a “terror” group.
Saudi air defences “intercepted and destroyed a drone rigged with explosives which had been launched by the Huthis against Abha airport,” the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels said in a statement quoted by state television. Abha airport was already targeted by the rebels on Wednesday, when a drone strike left a civilian aircraft ablaze. The Huthis say that the airport, little more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the border, is a legitimate target as it has been used as a base for the coalition s widely condemned bombing campaign in Yemen.
