Coalition strikes back after Al Houthi attacks
‘TARGETING CIVILIANS, CIVILIAN FACILITIES A RED LINE’
The Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Iran-backed militants in Yemen said yesterday that it had launched a new air campaign on the country’s capital and other provinces, in retaliation for missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.
“The targeting of civilians and civilian facilities is a red line,’’ Colonel Turki Al Maliki, a spokesman for the coalition, was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency. He was referring to the missile and drone strikes on Saudi cities in recent weeks that the Iranianbacked militia, known as Al Houthis, had claimed.
“The terrorist [Al Houthi] leaders will be held accountable,’’ he said.
US decision to remove terror tag fuelled attacks
The coalition suggested a US decision to revoke their terrorist designation has fuelled rising attacks. “The [Al] Houthis’ removal from the list of terror groups was interpreted in a hostile manner by the militia,” the coalition said.
The US mission in Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, issued an advisory, citing reports of possible missile attacks and explosions in the tri-city area of Dhahran, Dammam and Khobar.
UAE condemns attacks
The UAE has strongly denounced the terrorist Al Houthi militias for attempting to target civilians and civilian structures in Saudi Arabia with explosive drones.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC) , the UAE affirmed that these systematic
terrorist attacks by Al Houthi group reflect its blatant disregard for the international community and all international laws and norms. The Ministry also urged the international community to take an immediate and decisive stance to stop these repeated acts, which threaten security and stability in the Kingdom, stressing that the continued threat of these attacks in recent days is a grave escalation that represents new evidence of these militias’ attempts to undermine security and stability in the region.
B-52s again fly over region in US warning to Iran
Meanwhile, a pair of B-52 bombers flew over the Mideast yesterday, the latest such mission in the region aimed at warning Iran amid tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The flight by the two heavy bombers came as a pro-Iran satellite channel based in Beirut broadcast Iranian military drone footage of an Israeli ship hit by a mysterious explosion only days earlier in the Middle East.
ASaudi-led military coalition said it shot down armed drones fired by Yemen rebels toward the kingdom and suggested a US decision to revoke the insurgents’ terrorist designation has fuelled rising attacks.
The coalition destroyed at least 12 drones, Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya television said, without giving further details of their locations. The Iranbacked Al Houthi rebels, which the coalition has been battling for six years, have recently stepped up assaults on neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
“The Houthis’ removal from the list of terror groups was interpreted in a hostile manner by the militia,” the coalition was cited as saying by Saudi staterun Ekhbariya TV on Twitter.
“The targeting of civilians and civilian facilities is a red line,’’ Colonel Turki Al Maliki, a spokesman for the coalition, was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency. He was referring to the missile and drone strikes on Saudi cities in recent weeks that the Iranianbacked rebels, known as Houthis, had claimed.
“The terrorist [Al Houthi] leaders will be held accountable,’’ he said. Residents in Sana’a, Yemen’s rebel-held capital, reported hearing huge explosions as a round of bombs fell on the city yesterday.
Progress by the Yemeni army and tribes against Al Houthis in resource-rich Marib, east of the capital Sana’a, provoked the rising violence, it added.
The US said last month it would remove terrorist designations on Al Houthis put in place near the end of the Trump administration after the United Nations cited the risk of famine in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation.
Yemen government, Qatar restore ties
Meanwhile, Yemen’s internationally recognised government said it had restored diplomatic ties with Qatar after four years of boycott led by Saudi Arabia and joined by other Arab countries.
The foreign minister had met his Qatari counterpart in Doha on Sunday, according to the Yemeni foreign ministry. An agreement was reached to restore ties, it said in a statement.