Major General Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, said in a social media post on Wednesday, October 21, that five drones fired towards Saudi Arabia were intercepted and destroyed over the holy city of Madinah.
The attack was the latest on Saudi Arabia since the resurgence of fighting with the Houthis in mid-July. The Yemeni rebels repeatedly struck targets in the kingdom, including oil facilities and airports, and engaged in fierce clashes with Saudi-backed Yemeni forces in Yemen.
The coalition, in turn, hit the rebel-held areas in Yemen including the capital, Sanaa and provided air cover to a major offensive the Yemeni government launched earlier this month.
Yemen’s Riyan airport attacked
In a series of social media posts, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree denied any military operations towards Saudi Arabia and accused the coalition of attacking Yemen’s Riyan airport.
His statements came as a bomb attack on Riyan Airport in Eastern Yemen was reported. Saree said the “Saudi enemy” was using the airport to transport weapons and military equipment “to kill the people of Yemen.
He warned the Saudi-led coalition against using civilian facilities for military purposes.
“The Armed Forces warn the Saudi enemy against using civilian facilities for military purposes, heedless of the consequences of its foolish and criminal actions against the sons of the Yemeni people, which will bring upon it shame and dire repercussions.”
Houthi missile hits army camp next to Yemeni airport
Earlier, Saree said a ballistic missile struck a military camp adjacent to Yemen’s Aden airport in Khor Maksar district. The Houthis claim the military camp houses a command center for the Saudi-led forces fighting the rebels.
A transportation ministry official in Aden said a civilian airplane had taken off from the airport before the strike, while the departure hall was evacuated.
He said operations in the airport were temporarily suspended and that there was no damage to the tarmac. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
This is the second time the Houthis claim to have targeted the military camp inside the airport complex in five days and the third this month.
The area near Aden airport also houses government offices including those for the interior ministry and the coast guard.
Yemen’s government expands its terrorist list to deny funds to Houthi rebels
Yemen’s internationally recognised government has added 135 people, firms and vessels to its terrorist list as part of efforts to deny the Houthi rebels its sources of financing.
Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani on Wednesday called the decision a “significant step” that aims at “cutting off terrorist financing, dismantling the militia’s financial and commercial networks.”
The list included bankers, military and financial officials working with the Houthis. It also included five tankers and a firm based in the United Arab Emirates that allegedly smuggled oil to the Houthis.
Al-Eryani called on foreign countries and international financial institutions to cooperate with the Yemeni government tracking “terrorist financing networks, money laundering operations, and Iranian oil smuggling activities” linked to the Houthis.
There was no immediate comment from the Houthis or the sanctioned people or firms. It wasn’t immediately clear how the measures will impact the Houthis’ finances.
Funeral service held for 75 Yemeni recruits killed in Houthi missile strike
A soccer field was the venue for a military funeral Wednesday for 75 Yemeni recruits killed in a Houthi missile strike in southern Yemen earlier this week.
Shabawa Governor Awad Ibn al-Wazir and senior government and military officials attended the funeral in the provincial capital of Ataq.
Monday’s strike on the al-Alam military camp in Shabawa province was the deadliest attack since the resurgence of fighting in Yemen’s civil war. More than 200 recruits were wounded in the attack.
In a statement after the funeral, Ibn al-Wazir pledged to hold those responsible for the strike accountable.
Follow on Twitter | Edited by Khadija Irfan Rahim | | 
