(Reuters) – A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen destroyed a drone sent over southern Saudi Arabia early on Monday, and coalition air strikes hit parts of the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital of Sanaa, Saudi state media said.
The drone was launched from Sanaa international airport and was aimed at civilians at Saudi’s King Abdullah airport in Jizan, Saudi media said.
Al Masirah TV, run by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement which has controlled northern Yemen since ousting the internationally recognised Yemeni government in Sanaa in late 2014, said the coalition air strikes hit a car maintenance workshop in the Bani al-Harith area north of Sanaa, and also damaged homes.
The coalition had said earlier it would conduct a military operation in the capital to destroy workshops and warehouses of drones and other weapons, urging civilians to avoid the area.
Houthi forces have during the seven-year conflict sent drones and fired missiles into Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi-led coalition has retaliated with air strikes inside Yemen.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah, Mahmoud Mourad, Lisa Barrington; Editing by Peter Cooney)
