The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi group said it intercepted an explosive-laden drone launched by the Iran-aligned group towards the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, Saudi state media reported on Saturday.
The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing forces of the ousted government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fighting the Houthis. There was no immediate public comment from the Houthis, but the group regularly fires drones and missiles targeting Saudi Arabia.
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Al-Anad base attack
Rebels’ strikes on Yemen’s largest airbase last week, killed at least 30 pro-government troops and wounded scores more, said medical and loyalist sources who blamed Iran-backed Huthi rebels for the attack.
The strikes were carried out on Al-Anad airbase, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Yemen’s second city Aden in the south of the conflict-riven country.
The airbase served as the headquarters for US troops overseeing a long-running drone war against Al-Qaeda until they pulled out in March 2015, shortly before the Huthis overran the area.
Saudi peace plan for Yemen
Earlier this year in March, the Saudi government proposed a peace plan for Yemen. The proposal was announced in Riyadh, by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. He said the ceasefire would come into force as soon as the Houthis accepted it.
The Houthis rejected the proposal and have said that the peace plan provided “nothing new”.
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