Saudi coalition vows military action to airport attacks

RIYADH (AA) – The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has threatened a military action in response to rebel attacks targeting airports in Saudi Arabia.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said rebels were attempting to attack main airports in the oil-rich kingdom.

"We have preventive measures and the initiative to take a military action and take the necessary measures to defend Saudi Arabia and its citizens," he told a press conference late Monday and cited by the official SPA news agency.

On Sunday, the coalition said it intercepted a bomb-laden drone fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen toward King Abdullah Airport in Jazan, a few days after shooting down fired at Najran airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

Al-Maliki said coalition forces thwarted more than 35 terrorist acts by Houthi rebels at the Strait of Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea, without giving further details.

"We know that the Iranian regime has supplied the terrorist Hezbollah group with the 110 Fatih missiles and provided its militias in the region, including the Houthis, with drone capabilities," he claimed.

There was no comment from Iran, Hezbollah or Houthis on the allegations.

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition against the Houthi rebel group, which overran much of Yemen -- including capital Sanaa -- one year earlier.