Saudis shoot down four Houthi missiles

Attacks prove arms are being smuggled in, Riyadh asserts

RIYADH // Saudi Arabia intercepted four missiles fired by Houthis yesterday, in what the coalition fighting the Yemeni rebels said was evidence of arms smuggling through a Red Sea port.

The coalition had said that it destroyed much of the Shiite rebels’ missile stocks early in its two- year- old bombing campaign and that persistent launches showed they were receiving new deliveries.

“Early this morning four missiles were intercepted,” the coalition said. “The ongoing missile attacks on Saudi cities provide clear evidence of the arms smuggling that continues to take place in Yemen, notably through the port of Hodeidah,” which is held by the rebels. The UAE condemned the continuous targeting of Saudi cities with ballistic missiles by the Houthis and their allies, the militias loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation called for the prevention of weapons smuggling at the port of Hodeidah by the militias, who prolong the crisis and exacerbate the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

The coalition said the missiles targeted Khamis Mushait, which houses the coalition’s main airbase for its operations in Yemen, and Abha, another city close to the Yemeni border.

It said they were intercepted without casualties or damage.

The coalition has previously accused Shiite Iran of smuggling weapons to the rebels, a charge Tehran denies.

The coalition has enforced an air and sea blockade of rebel-held areas since the start of its intervention in March 2015.

Hodeida is the main port of entry for UN-supervised aid deliveries to rebel areas. The UN World Food Programme said on Friday that a third of Yemen’s 22 provinces were on the brink of famine.

It said it was providing food to 7 million people a month, but that was less than half the 17 million going hungry. This month, the coalition called on the UN to take control of Hodeida to stop “the use of the port for weapons smuggling”.

The UN rejected the request, saying the responsibility for protecting infrastructure and civilians could not be shifted to other parties. Sunday marked the second anniversary of the launch of the coalition’s intervention in Yemen.

About 7,700 people have been killed since it began, most of them civilians, according to World Heath Organisation figures.