A Yemeni rebel attack on a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia killed a Syrian national and wounded 21 other civilians Sunday, a Riyadh-led coalition said, in a new escalation following a series of strikes on the site.
The attack on Abha airport, which the coalition said left a McDonalds outlet at the site littered with shattered glass and damaged 18 vehicles, comes amid spiraling regional tensions with Iran.
The escalation of attacks by Iran-aligned Huthi rebels on Saudi cities threatens a hard-won United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal for the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, war-ravaged Yemen’s main conduit for humanitarian aid.
“A terrorist attack by the Iran-backed Huthi militia on Abha airport… killed a Syrian resident and wounded 21 civilians,” the coalition said in a statement carried by the official 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 Iran-aligned Huthi rebels have repeatedly struck the civilian facility this month with drones and missiles.
Earlier on Sunday, the rebels’ Al-Masirah TV said they had targeted Abha and Jizan airports in the south of the kingdom with drones.
The coalition did not confirm the attack on Jizan airport.
Abha airport authorities said on Twitter that air traffic had resumed and operations were running normally, without saying how long they were disrupted.
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 the strike as an apparent “war crime,” urging the Huthis to immediately stop all attacks on civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
The latest raids come amid spiraling regional tensions after Washington – a key ally of Riyadh – accused Iran of shooting down a US drone and carrying out attacks on oil tankers in the strategic Gulf of Oman. (AFP)