The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen announced late Saturday that Saudi air defenses intercepted and destroyed a bomb-laden drone launched by the Houthi militia towards the southern region. The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition had announced on Friday the crash of a bomb-laden drone at King Abdullah Airport in Jazan, launched by the Iran-backed Houthi militia. It later confirmed the destruction of a second bomb-laden drone that attempted to target civilians at the airport, which resumed normal operations after only a 30-minute halt.
The official spokesperson for the Coalition forces, Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki, stated that a bomb-laden drone crashed at King Abdullah Airport in Jazan on Friday evening, which sees thousands of civilian travelers, citizens, residents, and individuals of various nationalities pass through. Al-Maliki reported that the attempt at the hostile attack resulted in 10 injuries among civilian travelers and airport workers, as follows: 6 cases of Saudi nationals among travelers and airport workers, 3 cases of Bangladeshi nationals, and 1 case of a Sudanese national.
The attack also caused minor property damage and shattered some windows at the airport, according to the spokesperson. Al-Maliki added that the "Houthi terrorist militia continues its unethical practices by attempting to target civilians and civilian objects," asserting that targeting a civilian airport may constitute a war crime due to the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian objects that are specially protected under international humanitarian law and its customary rules.
Al-Maliki confirmed that the "Joint Forces Command of the Coalition, in light of these hostile acts and unethical breaches by the Houthi militia, continues to carry out operational measures to neutralize the sources of threat for self-defense and imminent attack to ensure the protection of civilian objects and civilians, in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules."
