US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday condemned attacks launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militias on Saudi Arabia and accused the group of not being serious about peace.
“For years, Saudi Arabia has endured these types of reckless attacks and for the past week, these attacks have occurred almost daily,” he said in a statement.
“This irresponsible escalation coincides with the Houthis’ declared desire to strengthen their ties with Iran,” Pompeo added.
“Just this month, the Iranian regime smuggled Hassan Eyrlou, a member of the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), into Sanaa, Yemen’s Houthi-occupied capital,” he noted, adding that Eyrlou now calls himself “ambassador.”
“These acts demonstrate that the Houthis are not serious about seeking a political solution in order to bring peace to Yemen,” Pompeo said.
He also reiterated US calls for Iran to stop smuggling weapons to the Houthis in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and to stop enabling their aggressive acts against Yemen and towards its neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.
The Arab Coalition has announced that it thwarted a series of Houthi attacks staged with drones and ballistic missiles.
"The coalition's air defenses shot down six explosives-laden drones that were deliberately fired by the Houthi militia on Wednesday to target civilian facilities in Saudi Arabia,” Coalition Spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki said.
“The Saudi naval and air defense forces possess high professionalism in dealing with these attacks. The Iran-backed terrorist Houthis are ramping up such attacks because of the hopeless and miserable situations and losses on the ground in Marib and al-Jawf,” al-Malki told Al Arabiya early on Thursday.
He confirmed that Houthi reinforcements have been eliminated in Marib and al-Jawf, and more than 300 militia members have been killed recently on those two fronts, adding that the insurgents are unable to achieve any victory or advancement in al-Jawf.
Al-Malki said that “the orders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are clear in occupied Sanaa,” and that “the relationship between the Houthi militia, al-Qaeda, and ISIS is known.”
“The Arab Coalition is a coalition made up of several countries that work according to international humanitarian laws. We believe in the role of the political process in finding a solution to the Yemeni conflict,” he told Al Arabiya.
