Iranian-allied Yemeni Houthi rebels killed one person and wounded seven in an attack on a Saudi Arabian airport on Sunday evening, as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to the country for talks regarding Iran.
According to Saudi military, Houthis attacked the Abha airport just after 9 p.m. local time. The report did not specify the type of weapon used in the attack.
This is the second attack on Abha airport in two weeks, after Houthi fighters fired a missile at the airport on June 12, wounding 26.
A Houthi spokesman told the press that rebel forces had launched drones at the Abha and Jizan airports in southern Saudi Arabia.
Pompeo is expected to meet with top Saudi officials in Jiddah, approximately 315 miles north of Abha, and told reporters that talks will focus on “how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned” to “push back against the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.”
The meetings come amid increasing tensions between the United States and Iran following the downing of a U.S. reconnaissance drone by Iranian forces last week. The United States said the aircraft was in international airspace above the Strait of Hormuz when it was shot down, while Iranian officials insisted it had penetrated Iranian airspace.
The United States also blames Iran for recent attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
