CAIRO: The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said on Friday it intercepted and destroyed an explosives-laden drone launched by the Iran-aligned Houthis in the direction of Najran, state news agency reported.

Yemen has been locked in conflict since 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa, the capital, and then much of the country's north. Fighting escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition intervened to restore the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

(Reporting by Hesham Abdul Khalek, Editing by Franklin Paul) ((Hesham.AbdulKhalek@thomsonreuters.com;))