SANAA, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels said they attacked Abha airport in the southwest of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, using a bomb-laden drone, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement.

"The attack hit the hangar of military aircraft accurately," he said.

However, the Saudi-led coalition forces said they intercepted and destroyed a drone fired by the Houthi militia from Yemen towards the southern region of the kingdom, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported.

Last month, a Houthi cross-border drone attack caused a fire at a passenger plane in the tarmac of Abha airport, said the coalition.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in 2015 to support Hadi's government.