Saudi Arabia says Houthi drone lands in school; no injuries

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia said Sunday a bomb-laden drone launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels crash-landed in the premises of a school in the province of Asir near the kingdom’s southern border.

In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, the department of Civil Defense in Asir said no injuries were reported. The statement accused the Iran-backed Houthis of launching the drone from inside Yemen.

Photos on the state-run Saudi Press Agency showed a substantial section of the roof of a building badly damaged. Another photo showed the motor of the alleged drone and its broken propeller on the ground.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014, when the Houthis swept across much of the north and seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the country’s Saudi-backed government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict the following year to try and weaken the Houthis and drive them out of the capital.

The war has killed more than 130,000 people in Yemen and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

In March, Saudi Arabia offered a cease-fire proposal to the Houthis in an attempt to halt the war, but fighting has continued to rage around the city of Marib as the rebels push to capture the city and complete their control over the northern half of the country.

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