Wednesday, 26 June, 2019 - 04:30Arab Coalition Spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki. File photoRiyadh - Asharq Al-AwsatThe Coalition for the Support of Legitimacy in Yemen has said that the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces intercepted and downed a drone launched by the Houthi terrorist militias towards a residential area in southwestern Saudi Arabia.Coalition Spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said the drone was aimed at a populated area in Khamis Mushayt.He did not report any damage or casualties, in a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).He accused the Houthis of deliberately targeting civilians and civilian installations.Maliki stressed that the coalition will continue to take deterrent measures against the insurgents in line with international humanitarian law. </s> The spokesperson of the Arab Coalition said forces were able to intercept and down a drone in Yemeni airspace after it was launched by the Houthis north of Sanaa toward Saudi Arabia.

Arab Coalition spokesperson Col. Turki al-Maliki said that the interception of the drone took place at 10:20 pm local time.

“The Houthi terrorists continue to launch drones to carry out hostile and terrorist acts by targeting civilians and public facilities, and that none of their targets have been achieved. They have been destroyed and shot down,” al-Maliki said in a statement carried out by Saudi Press Agency.

“We affirm the continued implementation of deterrent measures against these terrorist militias and the neutralization of Houthi capabilities with all rigor and in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules,” he added.

Last Update: Thursday, 27 June 2019 KSA 00:20 - GMT 21:20 </s> (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 27th Jun, 2019) RIYADH, 26th June 2019 (WAM) - The spokesman for the coalition forces, "Coalition for the Support of Legitimacy in Yemen," Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that, at 10:20 pm today, the Coalition Air Forces managed to intercept and downed a drone in Yemeni airspace after it was launched by the Houthi terrorist militia from the north of Sana'a towards the Kingdom.

Colonel al-Maliki was quoted by Saudi Press Agency, SPA, as saying that the Houthi terrorist criminal tool continues to launch drones to carry out hostile and terrorist acts by targeting civilians and civilian installations, and that none of their targets have been achieved.

"They have been destroyed and shot down. We affirm the continued implementation of deterrent measures against these terrorist militias and the neutralisation of Houthi capabilities with all rigor and in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules," he said. </s> The drone had been launched from the north of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and intercepted at 10:20 p.m. (19:20 GMT) on Wednesday in the Yemeni airspace, Maliki said, as cited by the Saudi Press Agency.

Maliki pointed out that the Houthis had repeatedly launched drones to attack civilians and civilian infrastructure, while the Saudi forces had intercepted them before they had reached the targets.

The coalition and the Houthis have been exchanging attacks amid violent conflict in Yemen.

The conflict has been underway since 2015 and has sparked a humanitarian disaster in the country. </s> Saudi Arabia announced the downing of a drone launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels toward a residential area, local sources said Wednesday.

The Saudi Press Agency reported that Arab coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki said the country’s air defense forces intercepted the drone in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait.

The Saudi-led coalition also confirmed a missile attack on June 12 by Houthis on Abha International Airport which injured 26 civilians.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

This article has been adapted from its original source. </s> MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th June, 2019) The Saudi-led coalition, supporting the Yemeni government, has downed a drone launched by the rebel Houthi movement into Saudi Arabia, media have reported, citing the coalition's spokesman, Col. Turki Maliki.

The drone had been launched from the north of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and intercepted at 10:20 p.m.

(19:20 GMT) on Wednesday in the Yemeni airspace, Maliki said, as cited by the Saudi Press Agency.

Maliki pointed out that the Houthis had repeatedly launched drones to attack civilians and civilian infrastructure, while the Saudi forces had intercepted them before they had reached the targets.

The coalition and the Houthis have been exchanging attacks amid a violent conflict in Yemen.

The conflict has been underway since 2015 and has sparked a humanitarian disaster in the country. </s> JEDDAH: A coalition jet fighter on a mission in Yemen was ‘intercepted’ by hostile fire but managed to return safe to base, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting for the Legitimacy in Yemen said on Wednesday.

Col. Staff Turki Al-Turki said the incident, which happened at 3:48 p.m. on Wednesday, saw a coalition fighter jet targeted by a hostile missile launched from Yemen’s Saada airport. The jet managed to return fire as well as complete its mission, the Saudi Press Agency reported. 

Al-Turki said the missile used was not part of the Yemeni air defense capabilities as they have been destroyed by the coalition, but evidence that the Iranian regime is continuing to smuggle "qualitative field capabilities" to the Houthis in a flagrant challenge to the world community resolutions, including UN Resolution No. 2216.

He said that the possession of new air defense missiles at the hands of the terror organizations is considered a serious development and a direct threat to air navigation and relief and humanitarian travel. </s> CAIRO (AP) — A Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen said Friday it bombed an air base adjacent to the Sanaa international airport allegedly being used by the rebels to launch drone and…

CAIRO (AP) — A Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen said Friday it bombed an air base adjacent to the Sanaa international airport allegedly being used by the rebels to launch drone and ballistic missile attacks.

Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the coalition, said in TV comments that no flights or international aid efforts at the airport were affected by the airstrikes targeting the al-Dulaimi Air Base in Sanaa. He did not elaborate.

Yemen’s rebel-run al-Masirah TV said more than 30 airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition targeted the air base and surrounding areas in the rebel-held capital.

Al-Malki said Saudi air defense forces on Friday shot down a missile launched by Yemeni rebels at the southern Saudi border city of Najran. The rocket was fired from the rebels’ stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, fighting in the Hodeida province has intensified in the past days, security officials said.

They said forces backed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition have been trying to retake the port city of Hodeida, the main entry point for food in a country teetering on the brink of famine.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The airstrikes in Sanaa came days after a U.S. call for an urgent halt to the Saudi-Iran proxy war in Yemen and the start of negotiations in November toward a political settlement of the conflict. The war has pushed millions to the brink of starvation in the Arab world’s poorest country.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday urged a cease-fire, specifically citing missile and drone strikes into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. He also said airstrikes by the Arab coalition, backed by the U.S., “must cease in all populated areas in Yemen.”

“The time is now for a cessation of hostilities,” Pompeo said. His plea came shortly after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke in unusual detail about diplomacy to end the crisis.

“Yemen has more problems than any people deserve to carry,” Mattis said.

The U.S. call comes nearly a month after the slaying of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi Consulate in Turkey causing international outrage against the Saudis. The killing prompted critics to urge an end to American arms sales to the kingdom and a reappraisal of U.S. military support for the Saudi-led Arab coalition that has been bombing Iranian-supported Houthi rebels, sometimes at the expense of killing civilians.

In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition unleased a full-scale military campaign against Iran-allied Houthi rebels who had captured most of Yemen including the capital, Sanaa, a few months earlier. The rebels pushed the internationally recognized government out of the country.

An estimated 10,000 people have been killed. The war has also left around two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 27 million relying on aid, and more than 8 million at risk of starvation.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is one of the worst in the world, with three quarters of the population requiring some form of life-saving assistance and protection, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The agency warned Thursday that the looming famine in war-torn Yemen could put 2 million mothers at risk of death.

UNFPA said lack of food, displacement, poor nutrition, disease outbreaks and eroding health care have dramatically affected the health and well-being of 1.1 million malnourished women who are pregnant or are breast-feeding their newborns.

The U.N. has made no progress in attempts to get the warring sides to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Associated Press writer Ahmed al-Haj contributed in this report from Sanaa.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> Saudi air defenses intercepted a Yemeni rebel drone targeting a residential area in the kingdom's south on Tuesday, a Riyadh-led military coalition said, as the Iran-linked militia step up attacks across the border.

A coalition spokesman said the drone was aimed at a populated area in Khamis Mushait, which houses a major airbase used as a launchpad for the coalition's bombing campaign in Yemen.

He did not report any damage or casualties, in a statement released by Saudi state media.

The Huthi rebels earlier claimed drone attacks on aircraft hangars and military positions at two airports in the nearby cities of Abha and Jizan.

The coalition did not confirm those attacks.

The rebels, who have faced persistent coalition bombing since March 2015 which has exacted a heavy civilian death toll, have stepped up missile and drone attacks across the border in recent weeks.

A Huthi drone attack on Abha's civilian airport killed a Syrian national and wounded 21 others on Sunday, the coalition said.

On June 12, a rebel missile attack on Abha airport wounded 26 civilians, drawing promises of "stern action" from the coalition.

Human Rights Watch denounced that attack as an apparent "war crime".

The latest raids come amid spiralling regional tensions after Washington -- a key ally of Riyadh -- accused Iran of shooting down a US drone over international waters and of carrying out attacks on oil tankers in the strategic Gulf of Oman.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons to Huthi rebels, a charge Tehran denies.

Following recent attacks, Saudi state media have reported an intensification of coalition air raids on rebel positions in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah and the Huthi-held capital Sanaa.

The coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government in 2015 when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled into Saudi exile as the rebels closed in on his last remaining territory in and around the second city Aden.

Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say.
Arab Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki says that his forces intercept and down a drone in Yemeni airspace after its launch toward Saudi Arabia by Houthis north of Sanaʽa.