Saudi Arabia said it intercepted an armed drone launched at the kingdom by rebels from neighboring Yemen on Sunday, the day after Washington announced its intention to remove the Houthis from its list of "terrorist" groups.
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The military coalition under Saudi command "
intercepted and destroyed this (Sunday) morning an armed drone (...) deliberately launched by the Houthi terrorist militia to target civilians and civilian infrastructure in the south
" of the kingdom, says the door -speak of the Turki al-Maliki coalition, in a statement released by the official Saudi press agency, SPA.
The Houthis, supported by Iran in the war they are waging against the Yemeni government supported since 2015 by the coalition led by Riyadh, did not claim the launch of the drone immediately.
The latter comes as the US Secretary of State formally notified Congress on Friday of its intention to remove Yemeni rebels from its list of "terrorist" groups, to which they were added at the end of Donald Trump's term.
Aid organizations were opposed to the designation, fearing it would endanger their work in a country where the majority of the population depends on humanitarian aid, especially in the largely rebel-controlled north.
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the end of US support for the Saudi-led military coalition, which has been the target of repeated rebel attacks for months.
The war in Yemen has left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, according to international organizations, and caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.
