UPDATE - Saudi-led coalition intercepts, destroys 5 drones in Riyadh, Medina regions

UPDATES WITH DETAILS; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Ikram Kouachi

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Saudi-led coalition announced Thursday that it intercepted and destroyed five drones in the Riyadh and Medina regions.

Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said in a brief statement on US social media platform X that four drones had been intercepted and destroyed in the Riyadh and Medina regions, without providing further details on their origins or intended targets.

Earlier, Maliki announced that a drone had been intercepted and destroyed in the Riyadh region.

The announcement came a day after an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia, killed two people and injured eight others, according to the country’s civil aviation authority.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry also said Wednesday that two people were killed and two others injured by falling debris after air defenses intercepted a drone targeting an Aramco facility at the Shaybah oil field in the Eastern Province.

The incidents came amid escalating hostilities between Yemen’s Houthi group and the Saudi-led coalition, including attacks targeting Saudi airports and energy facilities.

Ikrame Imane Kouachi