Five drones downed in eastern, Madina regions

Says Saudi coalition; Houthis deny drone launch, claim targeting Saudi position in Aden

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said yesterday it had intercepted five drones launched towards the kingdom, including in the Madina region.

“Four drones launched toward the Kingdom have been intercepted and destroyed,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki posted on X, adding in a second post that the interceptions took place in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern region as well as Madina.

Al-Malki, who did not specify who was behind the launches, later said another drone had been intercepted, also in the Eastern region.

Houthis said that they have not launched any drones towards Madina and have not conducted any military operations towards Saudi Arabia either, denying earlier comments from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, reports Reuters.

However, the Iran-backed rebels said they attacked a Saudi position in the city of Aden yesterday, with smoke seen rising near the airport, in the third attack in a week on the seat of power of Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government.

“Our armed forces were able to target the Saudi enemy’s operations room in the Badr camp in Aden with a ballistic missile,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement.

A police official in Aden earlier told AFP there had been a blast “caused by a Houthi missile”, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Iran has not received a response from Saudi Arabia or Yemen’s Houthis to its offer to help broker talks to end the fighting between them, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a television interview aired on Tuesday.

In the interview with Iraq’s Al Ekhbariya TV, Araqchi also responded to the possibility of Egypt joining Saudi Arabia in the war against the Houthis.

“Any foreign intervention would complicate matters,” he said, adding Cairo has previously told Tehran that it would “not directly” interfere in the Yemeni conflict.

Egypt has said it is ready to provide Saudi Arabia with the support it needs to defend its security, potentially raising the stakes ​in the Middle East.

A vote in the Egyptian parliament on a possible move against the Houthi fighters by the country’s military, one of the Arab world’s largest, was delayed until October 26.