ADEN, Yemen, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Air defense systems of the Saudi-led coalition shot down a drone over Yemen's government-controlled southern province of Hadramout early on Thursday, a military official told Xinhua.
"A drone was downed by the air defense systems while it was hovering over the city of Seiyun," the official of the First Regional Military Command based in Hadramout said on condition of anonymity.
The anti-aircraft missiles managed to intercept the drone loaded with a large quantity of explosives and destroyed it over a mountainous area, the source added.
"The explosives-laden drone was attempting to target the international airport in Seiyun," he noted.
The incident comes just hours after Yemen's internationally-backed President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called for a parliament session in Seiyun, where heavy armed forces are deployed for the security of the session.
The Houthi rebels based in the capital Sanaa described the pro-Hadi parliament meeting as a "felony," vowing to take serious action against the participants.
The Iranian-allied Houthis launched a large military campaign and seized Sanaa in late 2014, forcing Hadi and his government to flee into exile in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened militarily and began pounding Houthi-controlled Sanaa in March 2015, in response to an official request from Hadi to protect Yemen and roll back Iran's influence.
The conflict between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government in Yemen has recently entered its fifth year, aggravating the suffering of Yemenis and deepening the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
