Yemeni Launches Drone Attack on Saudi Abha Airport

Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces said in a tweet that a Qasef-2k UAV was used in the Tuesday precise attack on the Saudi International Airport.

He described the attack as a ‘legitimate and natural response’ to Saudi Arabia's escalating aggression against Yemen and its total blockade of the impoverished country.

The airport has been a frequent target of Yemeni drones over the past days.

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.

According to the United Nations estimation, more than 24 million Yemenis are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, with 10 million of them suffering from severe hunger. The situation in Yemen is often referred to as the world's worst humanitarian crisis by the world body.

The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen's infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories.

Separately, Yemeni forces shot down a US MQ-9 drone over Ma’rib, the scene of heavy fighting between the Saudi-backed mercenaries and Yemeni forces.

Saree said a missile that has not been disclosed so far brought the US drone down.

Since last month, Yemeni forces have been pushing to liberate Marib, the last northern stronghold of Saudi-backed militants and the capital of an oil-rich region.