Riyadh: The Arab coalition in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, on Monday announced that sixteen civilians were injured in a drone attack that targeted Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Airport in Jazan, a southwestern port city bordering Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The coalition said falling shrapnel from the destroyed drone caused the injuries to civilians inside the airport.
According to Arabic news channel Al-Ekhbariya, three passengers were in critical condition. It aired a short video clip that showed glass shattered on the ground inside the airport near the Baskin Robbins ice cream shop. Later Al-Ekhbariya showed the passengers inside Jazan Airport and stated that flights had returned to work normally.
Earlier on Monday, the coalition said that an armed drone had fallen in a village in Jazan called Al-Mabouj. No injuries were reported.
On February 10, the coalition announced that at least twelve people have been injured including an Indian resident by shrapnel from a drone intercepted by air defences at Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport.
Yemen has been mired in civil war since September 2014 when the Houthi militia forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.
Since March 2015, the Arab coalition has been carrying out military operations in support of government forces in Yemen, to confront the Iranian-backed Houthis, who control several governorates, including the capital, Sanaa.
Several regions in Saudi Arabia are constantly being attacked by ballistic missiles and booby-trapped drones, which are launched from Yemen towards their airports and oil facilities.
The Iran-backed Houthi militia launched in February 2021, a major offensive toward Marib in an attempt to seize control of the province, the last northern stronghold of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
