The Saudi-backed military coalition in Yemen said on Thursday that its air defences intercepted and destroyed drones that entered the airspace over Riyadh and the holy city of Madinah Munawara.
Coalition spokesman Maj Gen Turki Al-Maliki said four drones approaching the two cities were brought down in mid-air, adding that four more were shot down over Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on Thursday morning.
The statement came as Yemen’s Houthi movement confirmed a wave of strikes inside the Kingdom. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement on social media that, over the past 48 hours, the group had targeted the Defence Ministry building in Riyadh, Aramco facilities in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, and the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and Abha airport with missiles and drones.
Saree warned of worse to come if Yemeni tribes were targeted, pledging to continue a strategy of “siege for siege, strikes for strikes” until attacks on Yemen stopped and its blockade was lifted. He described the operations as retaliation for alleged Saudi military action in Yemen.
Saudi officials meanwhile confirmed the human cost of Wednesday’s attack on Dammam airport: two people were killed, one Saudi and one Indian national, while eight others were wounded. The country’s civil aviation authority announced on Thursday that flight operations at the airport had resumed.
Earlier, the energy ministry said debris from an intercepted drone at the Shaybah oil field killed two workers, a Filipino and a Nepali national, and injured two more, including a Pakistani. A contractor’s vehicle caught fire outside the facility’s boundary, but officials said field operations were unaffected.
Related: Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia: 3 killed, Pakistani injured
