RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said it foiled a Huthi drone attack on a southern airport Saturday just days before the new US administration is to stop designating the Yemeni rebels as a “terror” group.

Saudi air defences “intercepted and destroyed a drone rigged with explosives which had been launched by the Huthis against Abha airport,” the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels said in a statement quoted by state television.

Abha airport was already targeted by the rebels on Wednesday, when a drone strike left a civilian aircraft ablaze.

The Huthis say that the airport, little more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the border, is a legitimate target as it has been used as a base for the coalition’s widely condemned bombing campaign in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and its allies say that Huthi attacks on the airport amount to “war crimes” as the airport is heavily used by Saudis enjoying the milder climate of the mountains around Abha.