Many injured by Yemeni ‘drone shrapnel’ in Saudi Arabia

Saudi air defense forces have intercepted and downed a drone launched towards the airport, according to state-run Ekhbariya channel.

In recent weeks, the Houthis carried out several missile and drone attacks targeting the UAE, a member of the Saudi-led coalition that has waged a war against Yemen.

Also on Thursday, Yemeni forces announced they have successfully shot down a spy drone belonging to the Saudi-led coalition of invaders over the northwestern province of Hajjah.

In a statement, the spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said the reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had been brought down by a surface-to-air missile in the skies of Hajjah’s Harad district.

The statement, carried by Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network, added that the spy drone, which was of Chinese-made CH-4 type, had been performing hostile actions.

Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a war against the Arab world’s most impoverished nation in March 2015. The war has been seeking to restore power in Yemen to Riyadh’s favorite officials.

The death toll of the war, now in its seventh year, will reach an estimated 377,000 by the end of 2021, according to a recent report from the UN’s Development Programme.

The fighting has seen some 80 percent of the population, or 24 million people, relying on aid and assistance, including 14.3 million who are in acute need.