The Houthis have hit Saudi targets, including vessels in the Red Sea, oil facilities and Riyadh’s international airport. (AFP pic)RIYADH: The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis on Sunday said two pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed because of a "technical malfunction" near the border with Yemen, the first military fatalities since hostilities restarted in July.

"An AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter belonging to the national guard crashed and was destroyed in Saudi territory in the Najran area as a result of a technical malfunction, resulting in the death of its crew of two officers," coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

After a four-year, uneasy truce, Yemen's conflict reignited in July and intensified when the Iran-backed group seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month.