Saudi-led coalition helicopter crashes near Yemen... 2 dead

(Istanbul=Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Dong-ho = A helicopter belonging to the Saudi-led coalition crashed near Yemen, Saudi state-run SPA news agency reported on the 18th (local time).

Coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki stated that a Saudi military AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter crashed due to a technical malfunction in Najran, Saudi territory, resulting in the deaths of two officers on board. Najran, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, is located near the northern border of Yemen.

AFP reported that this incident marks the first death of a coalition soldier since the conflict between the coalition and Yemen's pro-Iran Houthi rebels flared up again in July.

Earlier this month, locations including King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, became the intensive targets of Houthi ballistic missiles, leaving about 10 civilians dead.

As Saudi Arabia's major airports are not operating normally, authorities are reviewing emergency measures, including shifting the Future Investment Initiative (FII), a large-scale Saudi convention event scheduled for later this month, to an online format, Bloomberg reported.