Saudi forces have intercepted a ballistic missile targeting the city of Abha in southwest of Saudi Arabia, Al-Arabiya TV channel reported.

The attack comes a day after another Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia's Abha Airport with drones. On Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition confirmed that 26 people were injured as a result of another missile attack by Houthis.

The Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia was continuing operating in regular mode after being hit by a missile strike, the airport informed back then.

A Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen at the nation's President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi's request since March 2015.

Yemen, a small nation in the south of the Arabian peninsula, has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces, led by Hadi, and the rebel Houthi movement for several years. The conflict has resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country. </s> A cruise missile strike on Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport launched from within Yemen has left at least 26 injured, officials in the desert kingdom have confirmed.

Houthi rebels in Yemen said they carried out the attack on the airport, in south-western Saudi Arabia, using cruise missiles. The Houthi rebels said the attacks were in response to “continued aggression” in Yemen by Saudi Arabia.

The number of wounded represent the largest civilian toll since Saudi Arabia became involved in the civil war in Yemen.

According to a Houthi military spokesman, the airport strike represents the beginning of a wider assault on Saudi as the group will target every airport in the kingdom. He said the coming days will reveal “big surprises”.

The Sun report: Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels promised to respond to what they said was a war crime.

According to Houthi-run Masirah TV, the rebels had launched a cruise missile attack on the airport, which is about 125 miles north of the border with Yemen.

Another Houthi spokesman, Brigadier General Yahia Sarie was quoted as saying that the missile hit and destroyed the airport’s traffic control tower. US-made air defense systems were unable to intercept the missile, he said.

The Saudi-led military coalition said, which has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen, said it would make a “firm” response.

A coalition statement, carried on Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, said a projectile hit the arrivals hall at Abha airport, causing material damage.

Three women and two children were among the 26 wounded, who were of Saudi, Yemeni and Indian nationalities, it said.

Eight people were hospitalised and 18 sustained minor injuries, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said.

“Targeting Abha airport proves that the Houthis have obtained advanced weapons from Iran,” the coalition statement said, saying the attack could amount to a war crime.

The attack comes amid tensions in the Gulf, which has seen a massive US military build up in response to what it says are Iranian threats.

In May a pipeline in Saudi Arabia came under attack from drones armed with explosives flown by the rebels.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched drone and missile attacks on Saudi cities, but two Saudi sources said this was the first time an Aramco facility was hit by drones. </s> DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemeni Houthi forces launched a missile strike on an airport in southern Saudi Arabia early on Wednesday which wounded 26 people, the Saudi-led military coalition said.

The coalition, which has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen, said it would make a “firm” response.

A coalition statement, carried on Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, said a projectile hit the arrivals hall at Abha airport, causing material damage. Three women and two children were among the wounded, who were of Saudi, Yemeni and Indian nationalities, it said.

The Houthi-run Masirah TV earlier said the Houthi group had launched a cruise missile attack on Abha airport, which is about 200 km (125 miles) north of the border with Yemen and serves domestic and regional routes.

“Targeting Abha airport proves that the Houthis have obtained advanced weapons from Iran,” the coalition statement said, saying the attack could amount to a war crime.

The attack follows an armed drone strike last month on two oil-pumping stations in the kingdom that were claimed by the Houthis. Saudi Arabia accused Iran of ordering the attack, a charge that Tehran denies.

A Houthi military spokesman on Tuesday threatened that the group, which has been battling the Saudi military alliance in Yemen for four years, would target every airport in Saudi Arabia and that the coming days would reveal “big surprises”. </s> A total of 26 civilians were wounded in an attack on the Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia carried out by the Yemeni Houthi movement, Saudi media reported Wednesda

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th June, 2019) A total of 26 civilians were wounded in an attack on the Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia carried out by the Yemeni Houthi movement, Saudi media reported Wednesday.

Missiles hit the arrivals hall of the Abha airport in southwestern Saudi Aseer province, the Saudi Press Agency reported.�

There were nationals of India, Saudi Arabia and Yemen among those injured, the news outlet added. At least three women and two children were among those affected.

Turki Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states, which is conducting a military operation in Yemen, said that the coalition would take urgent measures to deter the Houthi attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the future.

Earlier on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia repelled an attack of two combat drones launched by the Houthis, targeting the King Khaled Military base in the country's south.

The armed conflict in Yemen between government forces, led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthis has been ongoing since 2011. It peaked in 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition joined the military action on the government's side. The United Nations has repeatedly called the Yemeni conflict the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 24 million people - over 80 percent of the country's population - currently in need of aid. </s> (CNN) A missile fired by Houthi rebels struck the arrivals hall of an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, injuring 26 people, a Saudi official said.

Eighteen people were treated at Abha International Airport for minor injuries and another eight were taken to hospital, Turki al-Malki, spokesman of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen , said in a statement published on Saudi state media.

"Three women, a Yemeni, an Indian and Saudi and two Saudi children were amongst those injured," al-Malki said, adding that "authorities are working on identifying the type of missile that was used in this terrorist attack."

According to Houthi-run Saba News, a strategic guided cruise missile was used in the attack.

"In light of these terrorist and immoral transgressions by the Houthis, the coalition will take strict measures urgently and carefully to deter them," al-Malki said. "This includes protecting civilians and civilian assets. The terrorist elements responsible for planning and carrying out this attack will be held accountable."

Read More </s> The Saudi-led Arab coalition confirmed Yemen's Houthi group launched overnight a "terrorist" attack against Saudi Arabia's Abha airport. At least 26 people who were in the arrival halls of the airport were injured at approximately 12.21am BST (2.21am local time), when the Houthis launched a projectile in the facility’s arrival area, the coalition spokesman, Colonel Turki al-Maliki, said in a statement carried on Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV.

Eight of the people injured have been transferred to hospital, while 18 suffered minor wounds. Among those wounded in the attack, there are three women of Yemeni, Indian and Saudi nationality, and two Saudi children. The Abha International Airport itself has also suffered damages, according to Colonel Turki al-Maliki. READ MORE: Gulf CRISIS: Yemen rebels BOMB Saudi Arabian oil depot - missile shot down over Jizan

The Houthi group claimed the attack via the Houthi-run Masirah TV, adding the group launched a cruise missile attack. The coalition spokesman attacked this statement, saying it marks a “flagrant acknowledgement of responsibility for an attack against civilian targets in violation of International Humanitarian Law”. A similar attack with cruise missiles also confirmed the Houthis "have obtained advanced weapons from Iran", the spokesman added. The colonel also said this attack could amount to a war crime, as it targetted civilians rather than military forces, and pledged the coalition will carry out a "firm" response.

Colonel Turki al-Maliki vowed the coalition will take “immediate and severe measures to deter this terrorist militia in order to protect civilians and civilian facilities”. He continued: “The responsible terrorists will be held accountable for plotting and carrying out this terrorist attack,” he added. This aggression to the airport, which is approximately 125 miles north of the border with Yemen and serves domestic and regional routes, comes a day after Saudi Arabia said it intercepted two drones fired by the group, which controls a large part of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. </s> At least 26 people were wounded when a missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen struck a civilian airport in the south of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi government said yesterday.

The Iranian-backed rebels have fired many missiles into Saudi Arabia during four-year Yemen war but Wednesday’s attack was among the most serious.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the missile strike, which they said was in response to the Saudi blockade on Yemen, and threatened to continue striking at Saudi airports.

Colonel Turki Almalki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen, said the coalition would take “urgent and timely measures to deter this terrorist militia”.

The missile struck the Abha International Airport, around 125 miles from the Saudi-Yemen border, at 2.21am, according to the Saudi government. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - Yemen’s Houthi movement launched fresh drone attacks targeting Jizan and Abha airports in southern Saudi Arabia, the group’s Al-Masirah TV said on Saturday, adding the installations were out of service.

The Saudi-led coalition said in a statement that it had intercepted and downed a Houthi drone targeting the southwestern city of Abha.

The Iran-aligned group said multiple drone strike targeted control rooms at Jizan airport and a fuel station at Abha airport.

“The two airports are now out of service. We promise the Saudi regime more painful days as long as the aggression and siege continue on our country,” the group’s armed forces spokesman said in a tweet published by Al-Masirah TV’s account.

The Houthis have launched several strikes targeting Abha airport since Wednesday, when a missile attack against the same airport wounded 26 people.

The Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in 2015 in Yemen’s civil war to restore the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, said earlier this week that it intercepted five drones that targeted Abha airport and Khamis Mushait in the same region.

In response to these attacks, the Western-backed coalition said it had destroyed Houthi military assets on the outskirts of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa.

It was unclear if there were any casualties following Saturday’s drone strikes.

Coalition leaders, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, accuse Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah of supporting the Houthis, a charge all three deny.

The Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks against Saudi cities as tensions have risen between Iran and Gulf Arab states allied with the United States. Last month, the group carried out drone strikes on two Saudi oil pumping stations.

Tehran and Washington have engaged in a war of words since the United States reimposed sanctions on Tehran and increased its military presence in the Gulf.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - Yemen’s Houthi movement launched a new drone attack targeting the Abha regional airport in southern Saudi Arabia, the group’s Al-Masirah TV said on Monday.

There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the attack.

The Houthis have launched several strikes targeting Abha since last week, when a missile attack on the airport wounded 26 people. On Saturday, the group said it launched drone attacks on Abha and Jizan, another airport in southern Saudi Arabia. </s> ADEN, June 14 — Yemen's Houthi group carried out new drone strikes on a Saudi airport today after a series of air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition against the capital Sanaa, residents and both sides of Yemen's war said.

The Iran-aligned group said it has launched several drone strikes against Abha regional airport in southern Saudi Arabia, the Houthi television channel reported, two days after it claimed responsibility for a missile attack against the same airport.

The Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in 2015 in Yemen's civil war to restore the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, said it intercepted five drones that targeted Abha airport and Khamis Mushait in the same region.

The Western-backed coalition, which had vowed to respond to Wednesday's missile attack on Abha airport, said yesterday it had destroyed Houthi military assets on the outskirts of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa.

A statement from the alliance said the operation targeted “foreign experts from terrorist organisations working with the Houthis” but did not identify their nationality or say whether they had been hit.

It was unclear if there were any casualties following today's drone strikes. Wednesday's missile attack had wounded 26 people, Saudi authorities said.

Coalition leaders Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates accuse Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah of supporting the Houthis, a charge all three deny.

"The targets that were destroyed in Yemen include missile depots, weapons and manufacturing plants," said a coalition statement carried on Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV.

The Houthi-run Masirah TV said coalition airplanes bombed three sites, including military targets belonging to Houthi forces, on the outskirts of Sanaa. Residents told Reuters the strikes had targeted military camps west and north of the city.

The Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks against Saudi cities as tensions have risen between Iran and Gulf Arab states allied with the United States. Last month, the group carried out drone strikes on two Saudi oil pumping stations.

Tehran and Washington have engaged in a war of words since the United States reimposed sanctions on Tehran and increased its military presence in the Gulf.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis say they took up arms against corruption. — Reuters
A ballistic missile fired by Houthi forces strikes the arrivals hall at Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia, injuring 26 people.