Plane on fire in Saudi Arabia as airport ‘attacked by Houthi rebels’

A civilian plane has caught fire in Saudi Arabia after an airport was attacked by Houthis rebels, local media reports said on Wednesday.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels are said to have targeted the Abha International Airport in the south-west of the country, causing a passenger plane on the tarmac to catch fire, according to the kingdom’s state television.

The state-owned Al-Ekhbariya TV said that firefighters have brought the blaze under control. 

The initial reports offered no word on any possible casualties from the attack. Saudi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

‘A cowardly criminal terrorist attack launched against Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia by the Huthi militia,’ state-run Al-Ekhbariya television cited the coalition as saying. 

‘A fire that engulfed a passenger plane due to the Huthi attack on Abha Airport is under control,’ it added. 

The Abha airport, close to the Yemeni border, has been repeatedly targeted in Houthi missile and drone attacks. 

Those attacks have wounded dozens and killed at least one person over recent years. The Saudi-led military coalition did not say what type of weapon was used in the attack.

Wednesday’s attack, however, represented the first one to reportedly damaged a civilian aircraft at the facility. 

Flight-tracking websites showed delayed and cancelled flights scheduled to either take off or land at the airport.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said in a statement that it will ‘hold the militia accountable in accordance with international humanitarian law,’ referring to the Houthis.

Col. Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, said coalition forces intercepted and destroyed two bomb-laden drones launched by the Houthis toward the kingdom. 

He condemned the assault as a ‘systematic and deliberate attempt to target civilians in the southern region’ of Saudi Arabia.

In November 2017, the Houthis targeted Riyadh’s international airport in an attack. 

Saudi officials later blamed Iran for providing the missile to the Houthis used in that and other attacks on the kingdom amid its grinding war against the rebels.

Tehran long has denied providing arms to the Houthis, though evidence and United Nations expert reports show weapons linking back to Iran.

Wednesday’s attack, however, represented the first one to reportedly damaged a civilian aircraft at the facility. Flight-tracking websites showed delayed and cancelled flights scheduled to either take off or land at the airport.

At least two Airbus A320s flown by the Saudia, the kingdom’s flag carrier, were on the ground at Abha on Wednesday afternoon, according to the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com. 

Another Airbus A320 on the ground there belonged to low-cost carrier FlyADeal. Both airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said in a statement that it will ‘hold the militia accountable in accordance with international humanitarian law,’ referring to the Houthis.

There was no announcement from the Houthis on the attack. Military spokesmen for the group did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment. 

Saudi Arabia has been at war with the Houthis in Yemen for nearly six years, a grinding conflict that has spawned the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. 

Yemen’s war began in September 2014, when the Houthis seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. 

Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, entered the war alongside Yemen’s internationally recognised government in March 2015. 

The Huthis have also resumed an offensive to seize the Yemeni government’s last northern stronghold of Marib, according to a government source, with dozens of casualties on both sides.

The US State Department on Friday said it had formally notified Congress of its intention to revoke a terrorist designation against the rebels, which had been announced at the end of the administration of former president Donald Trump.

The delisting move came a day after US President Joe Biden announced an end to US support for Saudi-led offensive operations in Yemen.

Humanitarian groups were deeply opposed to the designation, saying it jeopardised their operations in a country where the majority of people rely on aid, and that they have no choice but to deal with the Huthis, who control much of the north. 

More to follow…

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