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Houthis claim responsibility for drone attack on Saudi airport

The attack comes less than a week after the US administration announced it was rescinding the Iran-aligned group's terror designation.

A picture taken during a guided tour with the Saudi military on June 13, 2019 shows the welcoming sign at Abha airport in the popular mountain resort of the same name in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, one day after a Yemeni rebel missile attack on the civil airport wounded 26 civilians. - Saudi Arabia accused its arch-foe Tehran of ordering the missile strike on the airport on June 12, drawing promises of "stern action" from the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Yemeni Huthi rebels. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine
A picture taken during a guided tour with the Saudi military on June 13, 2019, shows the welcoming sign at Abha airport in the popular mountain resort of the same name in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, one day after a Yemeni rebel missile attack on the civil airport wounded 26 civilians. — FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

The Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for a drone attack that the Saudi-led coalition said caused a small fire at an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia. 

A spokesperson for the Iran-aligned group said the Houthis flew four armed drones to the Abha airport, which the Houthis targeted because they believe it to be military rather than civilian infrastructure. 

“This targeting comes in response to the continued aerial bombardment and the brutal siege on our country,” said spokesperson Yehia Sareai. 

The Houthis are battling a Saudi-led military coalition, which intervened in Yemen's civil war on behalf of the internationally recognized government in 2015. Since seizing the capital, Sanaa, the Houthis consolidated their control over much of the country and have now renewed their offensive on the oil-rich Marib province. 

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