The downing of a drone targeting an airport in southern Saudi Arabia left 12 injured on Thursday (February 10th), authorities said as fighting intensified against Houthi rebels in the war in neighboring Yemen.
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The Houthis, close to Iran, regularly launch drone and missile attacks against the wealthy Saudi kingdom, with Riyadh leading a military coalition since 2015 in Yemen to support government forces against the rebels.
"
Twelve civilians of different nationalities were injured at Abha airport (after) the Saudi defense destroyed a drone launched in (its) direction
," said the coalition, quoted by the official agency of the kingdom SPA.
Earlier in the day, it had announced "
four civilian injuries among employees and travelers
", fragments of the drone having "
fallen
" in the international airport area.
"
We will take firm operational measures to respond to the threat to civilian airports and travelers
,” the coalition said, adding that traffic had “
resumed
.”
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Located in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the border with largely Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, Abha airport is regularly targeted by rebels, though with few casualties.
In Jazane, a frequently targeted Yemen border region, two people died and seven were injured in late December, in the first deadly attack in Saudi Arabia claimed by Yemeni rebels in more than three years.
The war in Yemen has caused one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
According to the UN, in seven years of conflict, at least 377,000 people have been killed, the vast majority due to the indirect consequences of the fighting, such as hunger and disease.