Yemen’s Houthis Target Saudi Najran Airport, King Khalid Air Base, Reports Say

The Islamic movement, which operates in Yemen, has promised to step up their campaign against Saudi forces until the coalition lifts the blockade of the country’s northern provinces and stops bombing the area.

The Houthis have targeted Najran Airport and the King Khalid Air Base with multiple drones, Reuters reported, citing a tweet by the movement.

Earlier today, the Saudi-led coalition stated that it had intercepted and destroyed four explosive-laden drones launched by the military group in the direction of Saudi Arabia.

Of them, three drones were destroyed in Yemeni airspace, Col. Turki al-Maliki, the Arab coalition’s spokesman said, as quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The alliance’s forces will take all necessary measures to protect civilian facilities and the peaceful population according to humanitarian law, the spokesman added.

Late on Thursday, the Houthi-run Al Masirah broadcaster reported that the coalition had conducted over 30 intensive airstrikes on the Yemeni provinces of Marib, Sanaa, Hajjah, and Al Jawf.

The Houthi movement has repeatedly targeted the kingdom’s military positions and facilities by launching drones at them.

On 23 June, the Saudi-led military coalition involved in the Yemeni civil war said that it had intercepted explosive-laden drones launched from Yemen against Saudi civilian targets. Prior to this, the Houthi movement stated that it had hit the Defence Ministry, the King Salman Air Base, and military facilities in Riyadh, Jazan, and Najran.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi movement for several years. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015. Despite a peace accord signed in Stockholm in 2018, the tensions have not decreased.