The Yemeni army says it has launched a fresh drone strike on a major airbase in Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the Riyadh regime’s ongoing military aggression and blockade against the war-torn impoverished country.
Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced late on Tuesday that army troops and allied fighters from Popular Committees had hit sensitive targets in King Khalid airbase in the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, some 884 kilometers south of the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah television network cited Saree as saying that the retaliatory attack was carried out by two of the country's domestically-developed Qasef-2K (Striker-2K) combat drones.
Saree stressed that the strike was “accurate,” and said the attack came in response to the continuing aggression and brutal siege on his country.
Yemen’s Air Force carried out a number of operations against sensitive and important sites in Saudi Arabia last month, targeting Abha International Airport as well as the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait.
Yemenis have stepped up their attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent months, saying the retaliatory strikes will continue as long as Riyadh carries on with its airstrikes and blockade.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition claimed on Tuesday to have intercepted an explosive-laden drone launched by Yemen's popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a brutal war on Yemen in March 2015.
The war was launched to suppress an uprising that had toppled a Riyadh-friendly regime.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
The United Nations says more than 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger. The world body also refers to the situation in Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen's infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories.