Illustrative image, source: the Houthis media wing
The Houthis attacked Abha International Airport in the southern Saudi province of ‘Asir on June 14 for the second time this week.
Al-Masirah, a Yemen channel affiliated with the Yemen resistance group, announced that the Yemeni Air Force attacked the strategic airport with several suicide unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of the Qasef-2K type.
“The attack on Abha airport, which took place today, targeted the aerial navigation radars which put the airport out of service and suspended navigation in it,” Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Houthis, said in a short press release.
The Qasef-2k is a slightly upgraded variant of the Qasef-1 UAV, which is a copy of the Iranian Ababil-2. The new suicide UAV is armed with a heavy high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) warhead that explodes 20m over the target.
From tis side, the Saudi-led coalition denied that the attack was successful, claiming that the Royal Saudi Air Defense Force (RSADF) and the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) were able to shot down five Houthi UAVs over the Kingdom’s southern region.
“The Air traffic and the airspace at Abha International Airport are as usual, there is no delay in flights or in passenger traffic,” a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Col. Turki al-Malki, said in an official statement.
Earlier this week, the Houthis hit the airport’s arrival hall with a “cruise missile” injuring at least 26 civilians. These repeated attacks are an example of the ever growing Houthis’ offensive capabilities.
