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Yemeni forces launch drone strike against Abu Dhabi International Airport

This file picture provided by the media bureau of Yemen’s Operations Command Center shows a domestically-designed and –manufactured Qasef-1 (Striker-1) combat drone.

Yemeni army soldiers, backed by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have reportedly launched an airstrike against a strategic economic target in the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for Riyadh’s devastating military aggression against their impoverished homeland.

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Yemeni soldiers and their allies attacked Abu Dhabi International Airport using a domestically-built long-endurance Sammad-3 (Invincible-3) unmanned aerial vehicle.

Meanwhile, Abdullah al-Jafri, a spokesman for Yemeni air force and air defense, said the drone attack on Abu Dhabi International Airport had halted flights to and from the airport, adding that this was the first time that Yemeni forces used a drone to attack the airport.

He said Yemeni forces will target the infrastructure of countries that have taken part in the aggression against Yemen in future attacks.

Emirati aviation authorities later announced that an incident involving a supply vehicle in the Terminal 1 airside area of the airport had occurred at around 4 p.m. local time (1200 GMT).

The officials, however, claimed that the development had not affected operations at Abu Dhabi International Airport, and flights continued to arrive and depart as scheduled.

The UAE is Saudi Arabia’s key ally in its deadly war against Yemen.

Separate Saudi air raids leave six Yemeni fishermen dead

Meanwhile, at least six fishermen were killed and nearly two dozen others sustained injuries when Saudi fighter jets carried out separate airstrikes off the coast of Yemen's western province of Hudaydah.

In this file picture, Yemeni fishermen push a boat to shore in the southern city of Mukalla in Yemen's Hadhramaut Province. (Photo by AFP)

Yemeni military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Yemen’s al-Masirah television network that Saudi warplanes struck a fishing boat in waters off the Seven Brothers Islands, also known as the Sawabi Islands or Seba Islands, in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, killing two people and injuring eight others.

Two Yemeni fishermen also lost their lives and six others were injured when Saudi warplanes targeted a fishing boat off the coast of al-Hawak district in Hudaydah province.

Additionally, Saudi military aircraft bombed three Yemeni fishing boats off Jabal al-Tair Island northwest of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, leaving two fishermen dead and eight others injured.

Separately, two civilians were killed and several others injured when Saudi warplanes bombed a residential building in the Beni al-Hadifa area of the Majz district in Yemen’s mountainous northwestern province of Sa’ada.

Later in the day, Yemeni forces and allied fighters from Popular Committees fatally shot three Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, in the al-Wazi'iyah district of Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta'izz.

People search in the rubble of a house destroyed by a Saudi airstrike in Amran, Yemen, on June 25, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the Saudi-led war had left some 600,000 civilians dead and injured since March 2015.

The United Nations says a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in need of food aid, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.

A high-ranking UN aid official has warned against the “catastrophic” living conditions in Yemen, stating that there is a growing risk of famine and cholera there.

“The conflict has escalated since November, driving an estimated 100,000 people from their homes,” John Ging, UN director of aid operations, told the UN Security Council on February 27.


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