Agencies
The Saudi-led coalition said early Wednesday that it intercepted and destroyed four drones launched toward Saudi Arabia.
Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki said on the US social media platform X that the interception and destruction operation was carried out in the regions of Madinah and the aastern province.
In a separate statement, al-Maliki said coalition forces had intercepted and destroyed a drone heading toward the eastern region. After report of the interception, the Houthis’ military spokesperson said in a statement, “We did not launch any drones towards Saudi Madinah on Wednesday.”
However, the Houthi spokesperson, Yahya Saree said later that the group had targeted the Saudi-led coalition’s “military operation room at the Badr Camp in Aden with a ballistic missile,” Al Jazeera reported. The confirmation came after, according to Al Jazeera, a loud blast was heard in Aden. Separately, warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting Houthi positions east of the coastal city of Mokha in southwestern Yemen, Yemen TV reported.
The broadcaster reported the strikes but did not provide further details on the targets or any casualties. There was also no immediate information on the extent of the damage or comment from the Houthis.
The airstrikes came amid an ongoing military offensive against the Houthis in southwestern Yemen. On Tuesday, the Yemeni army said it had carried out 744 attacks against the group over 24 hours, neutralising around 200 of its members and destroying or damaging 90 vehicles and other military assets. Further, Al Jazeera cited the Saudi-led coalition saying its forces were “engaged in heavy fighting against the Houthis in Kahboub, southwestern Yemen and were trying to repel a large-scale attack” by the group.
On Tuesday, Yemen’s central bank ordered banks and exchange companies to freeze the accounts and assets of 135 Houthi-linked individuals, entities and vessels placed on terrorism lists, the government-run SABA news agency reported. On the same day, the European Union announced it was exploring ways to increase its support for Yemen’s government and stood ready to back mediation efforts aimed at resuming meaningful political negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
Addressing a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Kallas said the EU was examining options to step up its assistance to Yemen amid escalating Houthi attacks and worsening regional security. She urged all parties concerned to help bring “the Houthi aggression” to an end and called on the group to re-engage with the United Nations-led mediation process.