Flight Operations Halted at Two Saudi Airports Due to Yemeni Drone Attacks

The Spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces stated two fresh drone attacks have been launched on Saudi Arabia’s airports in retaliation for the Riyadh ongoing assault against the war-torn country.

Brigadier General Yahya Saree said that Yemeni troops had hit Saudi Arabia’s Abha and Jeddah airports with two UAVs.

He added the military operation brought operations at the airports to a halt for two hours.

The senior Yemeni official warned that retaliatory attacks will continue as long as Riyadh presses ahead with its deadly aggression and all-out siege.

This is the Yemeni Army’s fifth drone strike on Abha Airport in Southern Saudi Arabia in a week.

Earlier, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council had stated army forces and their allied fighters from Popular Committees will continue to carry out drone and missile attacks deep inside Saudi Arabia and its regional allies as long as they press ahead with their aggression.

“Once the Saudi-led coalition takes a decisive action to stop its bombardment campaign against Yemen, attacks against members of the alliance will cease in return,” Al-Mayadeen television quoted Mohammad Ali al-Houthi as saying on Saturday evening.

“We are ready to stop bombing the other side if the bombardment of Yemen discontinues. Up until now, Yemen’s bombardment has continued by means of US-, British- and European-made warplanes and clashes are still in progress,” he added. 

“We reiterate that drone and missile attacks on aggressor countries will stop in case they cease their assaults; otherwise the aggressors will not be safe from Yemeni attacks as long as the bombing of Yemen continues,” he continued.

The spokesman for Yemen’s popular Ansarullah movement has also stressed the need for an end to the Saudi aggression as well as the lifting of the crippling blockade on Yemen.

“We have repeatedly stated that our military operations are entirely defensive, and will continue until the onslaught comes to an end and the siege is lifted,” Mohammed Abdul-Salam was quoted as saying by Al-Masirah television network.

He added that any statement, no matter how positive it might be, is meaningless as long as no practical step is taken to establish peace.

“Stop the aggression and lift the siege against Yemeni people so that lasting peace can be established,” Abdul-Salam pointed out.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former President, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah movement.

According to the UN, 80 percent of Yemen’s 30 million people need some form of aid or protection. About 13.5 million Yemenis currently face acute food insecurity, UN data shows.

Ansarullah, backed by the Yemeni Armed Forces and allied popular groups, has gone from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and successfully defended Yemen against the aggression, leaving Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the county.