Saudi Arabia Downs Houthi Drone Over Taif, Killing Yemeni Resident

A Yemeni national living in Saudi Arabia was killed on Thursday when the kingdom's air defences intercepted a drone over the southwestern governorate of Taif, according to the Saudi civil defence. The drone was launched by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement, it said.

The interception also left a Saudi woman and a Pakistani resident injured. The fatality is the first Saudi Arabia has announced this month, a period that has seen the Houthis step up their cross-border attacks. Riyadh has said 86 people have been wounded in Houthi attacks over the course of the month.

The Houthis did not claim any operations on Thursday. The group has in the past announced military actions against targets in southern Saudi Arabia.

On Wednesday, the Houthis said 40 Saudi airstrikes had hit the Yemeni provinces of Taiz, Marib and Hajjah over the previous 24 hours.

The exchange is part of a wider escalation in the Saudi-Yemen conflict, which has unfolded as a separate theatre of the Iran war. It carries potential consequences for Red Sea shipping, particularly after the Houthis took control of Yemen's western coast and islands inside the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb.