JEDDAH: Saudi-led Coalition air defense forces intercepted a Houthi drone aimed toward Saudi Arabia's southern region of Asir, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Monday.
Colonel Turki al-Maliki, Arab Coalition spokesman, said that at 10:50 p.m. local time on Sunday, the Saudi Royal Air Defense System spotted the drone moving in the direction of a populated area in the Asir region.
The drone was shot down before reaching its target and so far nobody had been reported injured by falling debris from the unmanned aerial vehicle, he said.
Al-Maliki lamented that the Iran-backed terrorist militia has continued to target civilians with drone attacks as well as booby-trapped boats in violation of the Stockholm Agreement signed by the militia and the Yemeni government and its Coalition backers.
He said that "these acts of terrorism" were clearly meant to provoke the coalition forces into carrying out military action in the province of Hodeidah.
He stressed that the Coalition was all for the efforts of the UN special envoy in Yemen, but it won't allow the Houthis' targeting of civilian targets and its use of terrorist methods to go unpunished.
"The Joint Forces Command would take all deterrent measures in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules," he said.
Sunday's drone attack was the second for this month. On the night of April 2, two Houthi drones targeting civilian areas in Khamis Mushayt, a mountain city in Asir, were intercepted and destroyed. Five people were reported injured by falling debris. Four vehicles and a number of houses were damaged.