ZCZC
BFF-09
SAUDI-YEMEN-CONFLICT
Saudi intercepts Yemeni rebel missile, drones after airport hit: coalition
RIYADH, Feb 12, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Saudi Arabia on Thursday intercepted a
ballistic missile and two drones fired by Yemen’s Huthi rebels, a Riyadh-led
coalition said, as Western powers denounced a strike on an airport a day
earlier.
The Iran-backed Huthis have escalated attacks on the kingdom and Saudi-
backed Yemeni forces days after the United States moved to delist the rebels
as terrorists and stepped up efforts to de-escalate the six-year conflict.
A rebel drone early Thursday targeted the southern garrison town of Khamis
Mushait that hosts a key airbase, but was destroyed before reaching its
target, the official SPA news agency cited the coalition as saying.
Hours later, the coalition said it intercepted a rebel ballistic missile
launched towards Khamis Mushait and another explosives-laden drone that
targeted the kingdom’s southern region.
The coalition did not report any casualties or damage.
The strikes come after the rebels mounted a drone attack on Abha
international airport in the kingdom’s southwest on Wednesday, leaving a
civilian plane ablaze.
In a joint statement Thursday, Germany, Britain and France said they
“strongly condemn” the airport attack, which they said was a “violation of
international law”.
The United States also denounced the assault, calling on the Huthis to
“immediately stop these aggressive acts” and “constructively engage” in
President Joe Biden’s peace effort.
Biden, who has reversed his predecessor Donald Trump’s policy on the
conflict, has deployed his new Yemen envoy Tim Lenderking to Saudi Arabia.
On Wednesday Lenderking and his UN counterpart Martin Griffiths met Saudi
Arabia’s deputy defence minister, Prince Khaled bin Salman, who oversees the
Yemen portfolio.
Separately, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the attack on
Abha during a call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, SPA
reported.
– ‘Catastrophe’ –
Biden has halted support to Saudi offensive operations in Yemen’s war,
which he called a “catastrophe” which “has to end”. But he has reiterated US
support for Riyadh in defending its territory.
Alongside the cross-border attacks, the Huthis have resumed an offensive to
seize the Yemeni government’s last northern stronghold of Marib.
The battle has centred on a government military base west of the city of
Marib, a pro-government commander at the scene told AFP.
“The camp was taken by the Huthis but they were dislodged” by coalition air
raids, he said, adding that losing the site would sever an important supply
line for government forces.
Clashes at the base on Wednesday killed 23 insurgents and 15 pro-government
forces, according to the commander.
Loudspeakers on mosques in Marib were used to urge local residents to join
the fight or to donate cash, witnesses said.
After leading its allies into the conflict in 2015, Saudi Arabia is now
stuck in a military quagmire.
Years of bombings have failed to shake the rebels’ hold on the capital
Sanaa, and they have steadily expanded their reach in the country’s north.
Yemen’s grinding conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and
displaced millions, according to international organisations, sparking what
the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0928 hrs