Houthis launch drone attack on Saudi air base

Sanaa, May 30 (IANS) Yemen's Houthi militia said they attacked the King Khalid Air Base in Saudi Arabia's southwestern city of Khamis Mushait with two explosive-laden drones."The drones hit the air base accurately," Xinhua news agency quoted Houthi spokesman Yehya Sarea as saying on the rebels-run al-Masirah TV on Saturday.But the Saudi-led coalition said that it intercepted and destroyed a bomb-laden drone launched by the Houthi militia toward Khamis Mushait.Cross-border missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis have escalated since February when the group began a major offensive against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government army to capture the oil-rich province of Marib.A recent UN-brokered negotiation between Yemen's warring sides and other relevant parties has failed to produce a cease-fire agreement.Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.
--IANS ksk/