A high-ranking Yemeni military official says the country's army and allied fighters from Popular Committees have separately pounded two airports inside Saudi Arabia’s southwestern provinces of Asir and Makkah, in retaliation for the Riyadh regime’s military aggression and its continued blockade against their conflict-stricken country.
The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said in a post published on his Twitter page that the forces used domestically-manufactured Sammad-3 (Invincible-3) and Qasef-2K (Striker-2K) combat drones to strike designated targets inside Abha International Airport and King Abdulaziz International Airport in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Monday morning.
Saree noted that the attacks led to the suspension of flights at the airports for two consecutive hours.
بفضل الله وكرمه سلاح الجو المسير ينفذ هجوما جويا على مطاري جدة وأبها الدوليين صباح اليوم الاثنين بطائرتي صماد3 وقاصف2k وكانت الإصابة دقيقة نتج عنها توقف المطارين لساعتين متتاليتين.
— العميد يحيى سريع (@army21ye) February 15, 2021
تأتي هذه العمليات في إطار الرد المشروع على تصعيد العدوان العسكري وحصاره المتواصل على شعبنا اليمني.
He added that the airstrikes come within Yemen’s legitimate right to respond to the Saudi devastating war and all-out blockade.
Saree then renewed his call on Saudi citizens to stay away from airports and other places used for military purposes.
The development came only a day after Yemeni forces launched a drone attack on Abha airport in retaliation for the kingdom’s aggression on their impoverished country.
Saree said two Qasef-K2 and Sammad-3 combat drones accurately struck the airport on Sunday, hitting designated targets.
On Saturday, Yemeni Air Force units also managed to target an important and sensitive target at the same Saudi airport with a Sammad-3 drone.
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah movement.
According to the United Nations, 80 percent of Yemen’s 30 million people need some form of aid or protection. About 13.5 million Yemenis currently face acute food insecurity, UN data shows.
Ansarullah, backed by the Yemeni armed forces and allied popular groups, has gone from strength to strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and successfully defended Yemen against the aggression, leaving Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the county.