Saudi-led coalition says downs Huthi drone over kingdom
Saudi-led coalition shot down a "hostile" drone launched by Huthi rebels over the city of Abha.
RIYADH (AFP) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen announced Wednesday it shot down a "hostile" drone launched by Huthi rebels over the city of Abha in the kingdom s southwest.
Saudi air defences "tracked an unidentified object (over) the city of Abha and dealt with it in accordance with the rules of engagement," coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said in a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Coalition specialists who analysed the debris ruled it was a "hostile Huthi drone with Iranian specifications and characteristics", he added.
The coalition announced on January 20 it had "destroyed" seven rebel targets, including drone facilities, near Yemen s insurgent-held capital Sanaa.
Riyadh and its allies accuse Iran of supplying the rebels with weapons -- a charge Tehran denies.
A rebel drone attack earlier this month targeting a military parade at Yemen s largest air base killed a high-ranking Yemeni intelligence official.
The war between the Huthis and pro-government troops escalated in March 2015, when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled into exile in Riyadh and a Saudi-led military coalition intervened.
Since then, the conflict has killed some 10,000 people and unleashed the world s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.
