JEDDAH: The Arab coalition fighting to support the legitimate Yemeni government said on Sunday that the Houthi militia are in possession of Iranian-made drones — named Shahed 129 — and are using residential areas to hide the aircraft.
Spokesperson Col. Turki Al-Maliki said the Houthis have used the aircraft to carry out a number of attacks and are using Sanaa airport for military purposes.
Speaking at a press conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Al-Maliki said a coalition military operation that was conducted in Sanaa on Saturday night “targeted a Houthi manufacturing and assembly area for drone aircraft.”
He added: “We attacked a helicopter platform belonging to the Houthi militia in an area between Sanaa and Saada.”
Al-Maliki confirmed that Iran had provided the Houthi militia with “Ababil-T drones.”
During the press conference, he displayed videos and pictures of Saturday’s operations against the militia group in Sanaa, models of aircraft used by the Houthis in their attacks and the bombing of a cave used by the Iran-backed terrorist group as a command center in Sanaa.
“Surveillance is ongoing and we will not allow the transfer of technology to terrorist groups,” he said, condemning the Houthi militia’s attack on the Al-Anad Air Base in Lahij Governorate as a “terrorist act.”
