Yemen's Houthi rebels launch attack drones into Saudi Arabia

Yemen's Houthi rebels launch attack drones into Saudi Arabia
Yemen's Houthi rebels have launched at least two drones targeting a southwest Saudi city that is home to an air base.
1 min read
11 June, 2019
The Yemen conflict exacerbated after a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 [Getty]

Yemen's Houthi rebels have launched at least two drones targeting a southwest Saudi city that is home to an air base, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Houthis' Al-Masirah satellite news channel reported early Tuesday the rebels launched Qasef-2K drones to strike the city of Khamis Mushait.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Tuesday, quoting military spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki, which soldiers "intercepted" two drones launched by the Houthis.

The Iranian-allied Houthis have increasingly targeted the kingdom with bomb-carrying drones.

Khamis Mushait, some 815 kilometres (510 miles) southwest of the capital, Riyadh, is near the kingdom's border with Yemen.

The Yemen conflict exacerbated after a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 to reinstate the Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi government after the rebels overran the capital and other major cities.

The conflict, which forced Hadi to relocate to Saudi Arabia, has killed tens of thousands people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say.

The fighting has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 24.1 million - more than two-thirds of the population - in need of aid.