Washington condemns the Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia and accuses the...

Washington condemns the Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia and accuses the militias of not being serious about peace

Al-Maliki: The escalation of the revolutionaries undermines the international efforts … and patience will not continue if civilians are harmed

Washington: Moaz Al-Omari – London: “Asharq Al-Awsat”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed his country’s condemnation of the attacks “launched by the Iranian-backed Houthis on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, accusing the militias of not being serious about peace efforts.
“Saudi Arabia has endured this kind of reckless attacks for years, and similar attacks have been launched almost daily last week,” the minister said in a statement sent by the US State Department via e-mail.
Pompeo added that “the irresponsible escalation coincides with the Houthis’ announcement of their desire to strengthen their relations with Iran,” noting that “during the current month the Iranian regime smuggled Hassan Erlo to Sanaa, the Yemeni capital occupied by the Houthis,” and said that “Earlo is a member of the terrorist organization The so-called Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and now it claims to be an ambassador, these actions show that the Houthis are not serious in their pursuit of a political solution that would bring peace to Yemen.
Pompeo stressed that the United States calls on Iran to stop smuggling weapons to the Houthis, “as this contravenes UN Security Council resolutions, and we also call on it to stop enabling the Houthi’s aggressive actions against Yemen and its neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.”
The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen announced that it had thwarted a series of Houthi attacks, with drones and ballistic missiles.
Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, a spokesman for the coalition, said, “The desperate attempts by the Houthi militia to target civilians have been thwarted, as on Wednesday, 3 ballistic missiles and 6 booby-trapped Houthi marches were destroyed.”
Al-Maliki stressed during a television interview with Al-Arabiya that the Saudi naval and air defenses possessed high professionalism in dealing with these attacks, which he confirmed are terrorist and target civilians, describing the Houthi situation on the ground in Marib and Al-Jawf as “hopeless and miserable.”
Al-Maliki said that the escalation on the ground, especially in Marib and Al-Jawf, undermines the political efforts of the United Nations and the permanent members of the Security Council, and the efforts of the coalition also to reach the “joint declaration” and end the Yemeni crisis.
The spokesman stressed that “the dictates of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are clear in occupied Sana’a,” and also mentioned that “the relationship between the Houthi militia and (Al Qaeda) and (ISIS) is known.” He added, “No matter how many militias bring fighters into Marib, they will not get it.” The spokesman also warned during his speech, “There will be no patience for the Houthis in the event of any harm to civilians.”
Al-Maliki stated that the coalition had never dealt with the reaction, but he stressed that the coalition still had the lead in destroying and neutralizing the Houthi specific capabilities in the context of the commitment that this type of terrorist group does not possess that kind of capabilities, and that this is done in accordance with compliance with the law International Humanitarian.
In addition, the US Department of Justice announced that it had submitted a complaint to a US court requiring the confiscation of two shipments of Iranian missiles, which were confiscated by the US Navy while transporting them from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to the Houthis in Yemen, accusing Iran of fueling the conflict in Yemen and supporting terrorism around the world.
The Ministry of Justice said, in a statement, after a joint press conference with the State Department, yesterday, that the US Naval Central Command confiscated Iranian weapons from two unmarked ships that were sailing in the Arabian Sea on November 25, 2019 and February 9, 2020. Likewise, Iranian oil, which the United States previously obtained from 4 oil tankers flying a foreign flag, bound for Venezuela, whose sales are estimated at one million and 100,000 dollars.
She pointed out that the complaint submitted by the Ministry of Justice about the confiscation of these Iranian shipments includes allegations that the US Navy has found complicated plans by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to secretly ship weapons to Yemen and fuel to Venezuela. The weapons also included 171 anti-tank guided missiles and 8 surface-to-surface missiles. Air, ground attack cruise missile components, anti-ship cruise missile components, thermal weapon optical instruments, and other components for missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

To whom

Yemen conflict