RIYADH (Reuters) - The Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen raided an air base adjoining Sanaa's airport, Saudi news agency SPA said on late on Wednesday.
The raids targeted drone maintenance sites, a communications system and locations of drone experts and operators, SPA quoted coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki as saying.
"The terrorist, Iran-backed Houthi militia have transformed Sanaa airport into a military barracks and a place to launch drones to carry out terrorist attacks that threaten regional and international security", al-Maliki said.
Al Maliki added that the targets were legitimate and that the operation is consistent with international humanitarian law.
Earlier, Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV said 13 air strikes targeted al-Dulaimi Air Base in Sanaa.
A resident of the capital told Reuters violent explosions rocked the north of the city where Sanaa airport and the military base are located.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Sunni Muslim allies have been fighting since March 2015 against the Houthis, who drove the country's internationally recognised government into exile in 2014.
The Houthis control much of north Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
The war has devastated the country's infrastructure and driven much of its population to the brink of famine.
(Reporting by Marwa Rashad and Hesham Hajali; editing by Jonathan Oatis and James Dalgleish)