Houthis launch drone attack at Saudi air base
Mon, May 10 2021 09:49:36 AM
Sanaa, May 10 (IANS): Yemen s Houthi militia said they attacked the King Khalid Air Base in Saudi Arabia s southwestern city of Khamis Mushait with an explosive-laden drone. The hit was precise, the group s military spokesman Yehya Sarea was quoted as saying on Sunday by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV as saying.
Meanwhile, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported that the Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed an armed drone the Houthi militia fired from Yemen to Khamis Mushait.
Cross-border missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis have escalated since February when the group began a major offensive against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government army to capture the oil-rich province of Marib.
May 10, 2021: The word from rebel-held territory is that Iran is giving the orders now. This began in late 2020 after Iran sent a Quds Force general to be the Iranian ambassador to Yemen. Since 2015 the rebels have controlled the traditional Yemeni capital, where all the foreign embassies were (and a few still are) as well as headquarters for the government ministries. Most of the embassies and government ministries have left for the temporary capital of the last elected government in the southern port of Aden. Despite that, the rebels insist that because they occupy the capital and control over a third of the population, they are the real government and their opponents are southern separatists or foreigners. This ignores the fact that many of the people in rebel territory are kept in line via threats to cut off access to food, medical supplies and imported items. Tribes that try to break away risk starvation and a blockade of roadblocks a
Saudi-led coalition destroys Houthi drone from Yemen
Houthis check weapons on military trucks during a tribal gathering on 1 August 2019 in Sana a, Yemen [Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images] May 9, 2021 at 10:58 am
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Sunday it had intercepted and destroyed an explosive-laden drone fired by Houthis towards Saudi Arabia,
Anadolu Agency reports.
A brief statement said the coalition air defences shot down an unmanned explosive-laden drone fired towards the southwestern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, according to the official Saudi news agency
SPA.
The coalition is taking operational procedures to protect civilians and civilian areas in accordance with international humanitarian law, the statement said.
ACLED Regional Overview – Middle East (17-23 April 2021)
Format
By Dr. Ameneh Mehvar, Jacob Uzman, and Tarek Albaik
Last week in the Middle East, clashes between pro-Hadi and Houthi forces continued in Yemen’s Marib and Hodeidah governorates while the overall level of violence across the country decreased compared to the week prior. In Syria, Israeli warplanes targeted the positions of regime and pro-Iran militia forces in retaliation for a surface-to-air missile fired from Syria that exploded in Israeli airspace. Elsewhere, the Balad Airbase in Sala Al Din and Camp Victory inside the Baghdad International Airport were targeted by an unidentified group’s rocket fire. Lastly, East Jerusalem was the scene of heightened tensions as police forces clashed with Israeli far-right Lehava members and ultra-Orthodox Jews, as well as Palestinians.