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Saudi foils new Huthi strike as US set to lift ‘terror’ tag
RIYADH, Feb 13, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Saudi Arabia said it foiled a Huthi drone
attack on a southern airport Saturday just days before the new US
administration is to stop designating the Yemeni rebels as a “terror” group.
Saudi air defences “intercepted and destroyed a drone rigged with
explosives which had been launched by the Huthis against Abha airport,” the
Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels said in a statement quoted by state
television.
Abha airport was already targeted by the rebels on Wednesday, when a drone
strike left a civilian aircraft ablaze.
The Huthis say that the airport, little more than 100 kilometres (60
miles) from the border, is a legitimate target as it has been used as a base
for the coalition’s widely condemned bombing campaign in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia and its allies say that Huthi attacks on the airport amount
to “war crimes” as the airport is heavily used by Saudis enjoying the milder
climate of the mountains around Abha.
Wednesday’s drone attack came hot on the heels of US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken’s announcement that he would lift the terror designation of
the Huthis imposed by his predecessor Mike Pompeo.
The designation had been widely criticised by aid organisations, who
warned it would hamper their efforts to alleviate what the United Nations
describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Despite nearly six years of Saudi-led military intervention, the Huthis
remain in control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and much of the north, and aid
groups say they have little choice but to work with them.
The State Department condemned Wednesday’s strike on the airport but
Blinken said the terror designation of the Huthi movement would still be
lifted as planned next Tuesday.
He said sanctions on individual Huthi leaders would remain in place.
“The United States remains clear-eyed about Ansarullah’s malign actions
and aggression,” Blinken said, referring to the Huthi movement by its formal
name.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1822 hrs