By Zakaria al-Kamaali

SANAA, Yemen

The leader of Yemen’s Shia Houthi militia said Friday that the group had begun manufacturing unmanned aerial drones and surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).

In a statement broadcast by Yemen’s Houthi-run Al-Maseera television channel, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said the group was now "manufacturing artillery shells and air defenses".

These, he said, included surface-to-air missiles capable of downing warplanes used by a Saudi-led military coalition, which continues to support Yemen’s Saudi-backed government against the Houthis and their allies.

Some of these missiles, al-Houthi asserted, were capable of hitting targets inside Saudi territory "and beyond".

His remarks came one week after the military of the United Arab Emirates -- a member of the Saudi-led coalition -- said it had shot down a Houthi drone over Yemen’s strategic port city of Mocha.

Yemen has been wracked by chaos since 2014, when the Houthis and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched an extensive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s Saudi-backed government.