RIYADH: A Saudi National Guard reconnaissance helicopter crashed in Najran region in the Kingdom’s southwest, killing its two-man crew, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said on Sunday.
Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, official spokesman for the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, said an AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter crashed inside Saudi territory due to a technical malfunction.
The aircraft belonged to the Ministry of National Guard and went down in the Najran region near the Kingdom’s border with Yemen.
Al-Maliki said the crash resulted in the deaths of the helicopter’s two officers.
“The helicopter crashed due to a technical malfunction, resulting in the martyrdom of its two-officer crew,” he said in a statement posted on X.
The spokesman offered condolences to the families of the victims and prayed for God’s mercy upon them.
The incident occurred as Saudi Arabia remains on heightened alert amid a renewed wave of attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militia.
Najran is in the Kingdom's southwestern border with Yemen and has been repeatedly targetted by Houthi attacks.
Earlier Sunday, coalition air defenses intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched toward Khamis Mushayt and a drone targeting the Riyadh region, according to Al-Maliki.
The interceptions came hours after residents in Riyadh and Khamis Mushayt received mobile phone alerts from the General Directorate of Civil Defense warning of a “hostile aerial threat” and urging people to remain indoors and away from windows.
On Saturday, the coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed four drones over Riyadh, the Eastern Province and southern regions of the Kingdom, while also destroying two ballistic missile launchers in Yemen’s Saada governorate.
The latest security incidents are part of an escalation in hostilities since Yemen’s conflict reignited in July after years of relative calm.
Saudi Arabia has faced repeated Houthi missile and drone attacks targeting airports, energy facilities, transportation infrastructure and other strategic sites. Last week, an attack on Riyadh airport killed 13 people, according to previous reports.
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes have meanwhile continued to target Houthi military positions and infrastructure in Yemen in an effort to curb missile and drone attacks against the Kingdom, government-controlled areas of Yemen and international shipping routes.