An attack by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah) on a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia killed a Syrian national and wounded 21 other civilians on Sunday (June 23rd), the Arab coalition said, in a new escalation following a series of strikes on the site.
The attack on Abha airport, which the Arab coalition said left a McDonalds outlet at the site littered with shattered glass and damaged 18 vehicles, comes amid spiraling regional tensions with Iran, AFP reported.
The escalation of attacks by the Houthis on Saudi cities threatens a hard-won UN-sponsored ceasefire deal for the Red Sea port city of al-Hodeidah, war-ravaged Yemen's main conduit for humanitarian aid.
"A terrorist attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militia on Abha airport... killed a Syrian resident and wounded 21 civilians," the Arab coalition said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.
The wounded -- from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India and Bangladesh -- also included three women and two children who had been taken to hospital for treatment, the coalition said.
It did not provide details on how the airport was attacked, but the Houthis have repeatedly struck the civilian facility this month with drones and missiles.
Earlier on Sunday, the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV said the group had targeted Abha and Jizan airports in the south of the kingdom with drones.
The Arab coalition did not confirm the attack on Jizan airport.
Abha airport authorities said air traffic had resumed and operations were running normally.
