The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said today, Sunday, that the air defenses of the coalition forces intercepted and destroyed a booby-trapped drone launched by the Houthi militia towards Khamis Mushait.
The coalition spokesman confirmed, in several tweets to the agency, that its forces are taking operational measures to protect civilians and civilian objects from hostile attempts.
For his part, the Houthi military spokesman stated that the group struck a military air base in the city of Khamis Mushait, southern Saudi Arabia, with a drone today, and said in a tweet via his Twitter account, “The strike succeeded.”
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted Khamis Mushait and other Saudi cities on the border with Yemen, and the coalition says it intercepts most attacks.
Ma’rib
gas station
On the other hand, the Yemeni government condemned in the strongest terms what it described as the terrorist crime committed by the Houthis by targeting a gas station in the city of Ma’rib with a ballistic missile and a bombed drone, which resulted in deaths and injuries.
A local official and medical sources had stated that 14 people, including a girl, were killed and 5 others were wounded as a result of a double attack carried out by the Houthis with a ballistic missile and a bombed drone, while the Yemeni government announced on Saturday evening that the death toll had risen to 17 civilians.
For his part, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Muammar Al-Eryani said that the government condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the “terrorist crime” committed by the Houthi group.
“The heinous terrorist crime is an extension of the Houthi militia’s continuous and deliberate targeting of residential neighborhoods and civilian objects in the city of Ma’rib with the aim of inflicting the largest number of civilians, after the failure of its military escalation,” the minister added.
It is noteworthy that the fighting in Marib, which is rich in gas fields, claimed the lives of thousands of fighters on both sides, and threatened to waste years of peace efforts.
The United States has accused the Houthis of exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen by attacking Marib.