Yemeni Houthi rebels attack Saudi air base after UN-backed peace talks

Yemen's Houthi rebels said they launched large-scale drone attacks at King Khaled Air Base in southern Saudi Arabia on Monday, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.

A member of Yemeni government forces fires a heavy machine gun during fighting against Houthi rebels on the outskirt of the port city of Hodeidah, Yemen, 10 July 2019. [Photo: IC]

The attacks came just an hour after two-day UN-sponsored peace talks between the Iran-allied Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed exiled government.

"The attacks hit weapons depots in the air base and other military facilities," the Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement.

"The attacks came in retaliation for recent Saudi-led aggressive airstrikes against Yemen," he said, adding the attacks on Saudi Arabia would continue untill the "aggression and economic blockade end."

There is no Saudi confirmation of the attack yet.

Iran-allied Yemeni rebels have recently stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, but most of the missiles and bomb-laden drones were intercepted by the kingdom's air forces.

But there were no reports of such attacks over the past week as the United Nations was paving the way for resuming peace talks between the Yemeni warring parties.

Representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthi group met on Sunday for the first time in five months to resume negotiations on the suspended military withdrawal from Hodeidah, Yemen's key port city and main entry point of the country's most commercial imports and humanitarian aid.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition against the Houthi rebels in Yemen for more than four years in support of the exiled internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.