Houthis Claim Strike Crippled Saudi Airport

Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport has been disabled by a “precise” drone strike, Yemen’s Houthi fighters claimed Tuesday morning. According to the group, which is aligned with and supported by Iran, eight drones struck strategic airport facilities and caused the temporary closure. Officials in the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthi rebels, meanwhile, claimed that all drones were intercepted and shot down. Over the past two years, Abha airport, located near the border between the two countries, has been a regular target for Houthi drones and missiles. Most have been intercepted, yet some have hit their marks. For the past five years, Yemen has been mired in what the United Nations has labeled the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. In 2015, the coalition of Arab states including Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and others intervened and attempted to restore the Yemeni government ousted from power in Sanaa by the Shi’ite Houthi forces. Well over 100,000 have died since the conflict began, many of them of the ongoing famine, exacerbated by the fighting and displacements.