Drones operated by Yemen’s ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement have launched a fresh attack on airports south of Saudi Arabia, inflicting losses on the facilities and causing a suspension of the air traffic system.
The Houthi-run al-Massirah TV said late on Saturday that the attacks launched by Qassif K2 drones targeted planes and military equipment in airports in Jizan and Abha.
It cited a spokesman of Yemeni armed forces as saying that the attacks had been carried out with high degree of precision and caused the air navigation system in the facilities to disrupt.
Brigadier Yahya Sari’ said that the attacks were a response to Saudi Arabia’s relentless bombardment of civilians in Yemen, a country that has suffered badly as a result of the war for the past three years.
Sari’ said Saudi airports servicing fighter jets and helicopters that are used in attacks against Yemen will continue to remain a “legitimate target” of drone attacks by Yemen’s army.
Saudis have yet to comment on the Saturday attacks which come amid a surge in flight of drones from Yemen to retaliate Riyadh’s war on its impoverished southern neighbor.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Saudis launched the illegal campaign in March 2015 to drive Houthis out of the capital Sana’a and to restore power to a fugitive president.
The Saudi war which is propped up by a number of Arab allies and enjoy support from Western governments have also left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
The Saturday attacks came a day after Saudi jets targeted two residential houses in the southern province of Ta'izz, killing eight members of a family.