Arab Coalition Accuses Iran, its Proxies of Destabilizing Regional Security

Foreign Ministers and Chiefs of Staff of States for the Coalition Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen meet in Riyadh on Sunday/SPA
Foreign Ministers and Chiefs of Staff of States for the Coalition Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen meet in Riyadh on Sunday/SPA
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Arab Coalition Accuses Iran, its Proxies of Destabilizing Regional Security

Foreign Ministers and Chiefs of Staff of States for the Coalition Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen meet in Riyadh on Sunday/SPA
Foreign Ministers and Chiefs of Staff of States for the Coalition Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen meet in Riyadh on Sunday/SPA

Foreign Ministers and Chiefs of Staff of States from the Coalition Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen denounced on Sunday the negative role played by Tehran in supporting coup militias with weapons, ammunition, ballistic missiles and mines in a flagrant violation of Security Council Resolution 2216, stressing the Iranian regime and its proxies are responsible for destabilizing regional security.

A final communiqué read by Colonel Pilot Turki bin Saleh al-Maliki, official spokesperson of the coalition, during a press conference held Sunday in Riyadh said that member states condemned the militias for killing the Yemeni people and exposing them to famine, fear, disease, tampering with the capabilities of the Yemeni people and threatening the security and stability of the region’s countries, mainly Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Al-Maliki told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthis have targeted the Kingdom with 77 missiles.

The spokesperson said the insurgents are the first outlawed terrorist group that own ballistic powers, which he considered a very threatening challenge.

“Terrorist and armed groups cannot possess such powers, especially ballistic and surface-to-surface missiles,” he said.

The final communiqué also confirmed that the military operations of the coalition are carried out in line with the relevant international laws, including international humanitarian law.

With regard to the annual report of the UN Secretary General on children in armed conflicts issued early last month, participants rejected parts of it for containing false information, and called on the UN to revise the mechanisms and fact-finding tools.

Nevertheless, they lauded other parts of the report, which hailed measures taken by the coalition in protecting civilians.

Representatives of the Coalition forces in Yemen also condemned the coup militias' criminal acts, such as using, training and recruiting children in armed conflicts in addition to imposing a siege on cities and looting humanitarian aid, which has led to the spread of epidemics and famine among civilians.

They concluded by stressing the need for the coalition states to highlight their message and disclose the criminal practices and plans carried out by the insurgents with the support of Iran and Hezbollah.



Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 10 in a Restaurant in Northeast Nigeria

FILE - Nigerian soldiers man a checkpoint in Gwoza, northeast, Nigeria, April 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi, File)
FILE - Nigerian soldiers man a checkpoint in Gwoza, northeast, Nigeria, April 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi, File)
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Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 10 in a Restaurant in Northeast Nigeria

FILE - Nigerian soldiers man a checkpoint in Gwoza, northeast, Nigeria, April 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi, File)
FILE - Nigerian soldiers man a checkpoint in Gwoza, northeast, Nigeria, April 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi, File)

A suicide bomber in Nigeria’s northeast state of Borno killed at least 10 people and injured several others in an explosion in a restaurant, police said Saturday.

The blast occurred in the Konduga area late Friday, police spokesperson Nahum Daso told The Associated Press.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Nigeria’s northeast has been hit by attacks carried out by militants from the Boko Haram group and its splinter, the ISIS West Africa Province.

Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown militants, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their own radical version of Islamic law. The conflict also has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbors.

Some 35,000 civilians have been killed and more than 2 million displaced in the northeastern region, according to the UN.

Despite promises by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to address Nigeria’s security challenges, the violence has persisted.