UN, Hadi flay Al Houthis for mosque attack

Attack was carried out with ballistic missiles and drones

The United Nations said yesterday that a missile attack on a government military camp in central Yemen which killed 83 people could derail a fragile political process that aims to calm the 5-year-old war.

The attack on Saturday evening hit a mosque in the Al Estiqbal military training camp in Marib, a city held by the government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, as people gathered for prayer, medical sources said.

The attack “confirms without doubt that Al Houthis have no desire for peace”, Hadi said in a statement.

The United Nations envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, condemned this incident.

“The hardearned progress that Yemen has made on de-escalation is very fragile. Such actions can derail this progress”, Griffiths said.

ran-aligned Houthis attacked a military training camp in the Yemeni city of Marib on Saturday, killing 83 military personnel and wounding dozens others, Saudi state television said on Saturday evening.

Al Ekhbariya television quoted sources as saying the attack was carried out with ballistic missiles and drones.

Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi yesterday lashed out at Iran-aligned Al Houthi rebels over the attack.

The attack had targeted a group of soldiers who were gathering near a mosque following the sunset prayers in the camp, according to military sources.

“The shameful acts of Al Houthi militias leave no doubt that they are not interested in peace and that they are only good at the project of death and havoc,” the Yemeni leader said in the aftermath of the assault.

The shameful acts of Al Houthis leave no doubt that they are not interested in peace and that they are only interested in death and havoc.”

Explosive drones

He branded Al Houthis, who have plunged Yemen into a devastating war, of being a “cheap tool” in the hands of Iran.

“The Yemeni people, supported by the alliance led by Saudi Arabia, are determined to confront the militia’s deeds and end its sectarian project,” Hadi said, according to Yemen’s official news agency Saba.

The Saturday attack killed 83 soldiers and injured 150, according to military sources. The majority of the victims were recruits.

The attack was mounted by three explosive drones, one of them was downed by the army, the sources said.

The attack comes amid renewed UN efforts to relaunch Yemen’s long-stalled peace process.

Yemen’s conflict erupted after Al Houthis toppled the internationally recognised government and overran parts of the country, including the capital Sana’a, in late 2014.

In March, 2015, an Arab alliance co-led by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, intervened in Yemen in response to a request from its government after Al Houthis advanced on the southern city of Aden, the country’s provisional capital.

Abd Rabbo Mansour | Yemeni president