Saudi Arabia welcomed on Thursday a United Nations report that condemned hostile Iranian meddling in the region and its support of the Houthi terrorist militias in Yemen by providing them with advanced missiles that pose a threat to the Kingdom, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomes the U.N. report that asserted that the hostile Iranian intervention and its support for the terrorist Houthi militia with advanced and dangerous missile capabilities threatens the security and stability of the kingdom and the region,” SPA said
It also welcomed the United States’ recent stance, voiced by its ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, in which it accused Iran of these hostile acts and of arming terrorist groups, including the Houthis and Lebanon’s “Hezbollah.”
Riyadh renewed its condemnation of the Iranian regime for backing the Houthis and their revolt against legitimate forces in Yemen, their destruction of state institutions and oppression of the Yemeni people. It also condemned Iran for seizing humanitarian aid for the Yemeni people, as well as their oil resources, and employing them for their terrorist acts. Furthermore, it slammed Tehran for threatening marine passages and Saudi territory through encouraging the Houthis to launch ballistic missiles against residential areas.
“Such actions are a blatant violation of UN Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2231,” added the Kingdom in its statement according to SPA.
Moreover, it held Iran responsible for the violation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701 on Lebanon that bar the arming of any militias outside the authority of the Lebanese state.
The Kingdom therefore called on the international community to take the necessary and immediate measures to implement the abovementioned resolutions and hold Iran responsible for its actions.
The Saudi Arabian Embassy has tweeted photos of Ambassador Prince Khalid bin Salman and other coalition ambassadors visiting the site where an Iranian missile fired by the Houthi militia landed in Saudi Arabia.
“His Highness Prince Khalid bin Salman and coalition ambassadors at the wreckage site of Iranian missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthi militia targeting the Kingdom,” the tweet read.
The Houthis have repeatedly been trying to target Saudi cities and territories with ballistic missiles that the Kingdom’s defenses have responded to effectively. At the time of the attack in early November, the spokesman for the coalition forces in support of legitimate goverrnment in Yemen, Colonel Turki al-Maliki, said that the rocket was aimed at Riyadh and was launched indiscriminately and absurdly to target populated civilian areas. It was successfully intercepted and the fragments fell in an uninhabited area east of King Khalid International Airport.
The U.S. has accused Iran of violating UN resolutions as officials presented evidence for the first time which purports to show Iranian weapons supplied to Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Speaking in front of the weapon fragments at the military hangar at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling just outside of Washington, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the evidence was the first step in a “push back” against the Islamic Republic’s influence in the Middle East.
“You will see us build a coalition to really push back against Iran and what they’re doing. This is not just about the nuclear programme. This is about everything else they’re doing… Iran believes they have been given a pass,” Haley told a news conference, standing in front of what she said were the remnants of an Iranian missile fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen into Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Mohammed al-Yadomi, the head of an influential Yemeni party, was summoned to the Saudi capital for an unprecedented meeting with two of the Arab world’s most powerful leaders while was attending a summit on Jerusalem in Istanbul on Wednesday when he.
A private Saudi plane flew al-Yadomi to Riyadh for talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the crown prince of the U.A.E.’s capital, Abu Dhabi, according to the deputy chief of Islah’s media department, Adnan al-Odaini.
Little detail has emerged from the discussions. But the fact that they were held at all may signal the beginning of new realignments in Yemen’s nearly three-year war — which has become part of the broader struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran for regional influence as well as triggering a humanitarian crisis.
Al-Yadomi is chairman of the Islamist Islah party, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have banned. While Saudi Arabia has put aside its reservations over Islah’s affiliations to welcome its leaders as part of Hadi’s government, the U.A.E. has previously had no public contacts with the party.
“The meeting with al-Yadomi seeks to unite efforts to defeat Iran and its Houthi militias. Islah has recently said it was distancing itself from the brotherhood “and we have a chance to test intentions,” U.A.E. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in a Twitter posting late Thursday,” he said.