ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Monday condemned recent attacks launched by the Houthis toward a southern Saudi region over the weekend and called for their “immediate cessations”.
Saudi air defences destroyed as many as 17 drones launched toward its southern region. A booby-trapped drone targeted Khamis Mushait city early in the morning before seven more targeting the southwestern region were intercepted in Yemeni airspace during the afternoon.
Khamis Mushait was again targeted by two drones in the evening. Another drone targeted southwestern Najran city late in the evening before six more were shot down near midnight.
“It is commendable that the coalition forces successfully intercepted the explosive-laden drones and destroyed them,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
“These attacks threaten the lives of innocent people, besides violating the territorial integrity of the Kingdom. We call for immediate cessation of such attacks.”
The statement reaffirmed Islamabad’s “full support and solidarity” with the Kingdom against the threats to its “security and territorial integrity”.
The Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 against the Houthis. It entered the war after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital Sana’a.
The movement, which holds most of north Yemen, has kept up cross border attacks on Saudi Arabia and a ground offensive in Yemen’s Marib region at a time the United States and the United Nations are pushing for a ceasefire agreement.
Riyadh and Sana’a have welcomed a truce but the Houthis want the full lifting of a sea and air blockade.
The conflict, seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed the Arabian Peninsula nation to the brink of famine.
