Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has accused Yemen’s Houthi rebels of launching attacks on civilian and economic sites in the kingdom, wounding at least 73 civilians, including women and children.
The accusation came on Tuesday as fighting intensified in Yemen, where the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government has launched a counteroffensive to retake territory from the Iran-backed Houthis. Major-General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said in a statement that the Houthi attacks had hit civilian and economic sites in the provinces of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jizan and Najran.
He did not specify when the attacks took place.
Al-Maliki described the attacks as a “dangerous escalation” and a “blatant violation” of Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty, warning that they posed a direct threat to the kingdom’s citizens and residents.
He said the coalition would take “all necessary operational measures” to confront the attacks and act against the sources of the threat. The Saudi Ministry of Energy said in a separate statement that several “energy sector facilities and installations” in southern areas of the kingdom were hit early on Tuesday.
The attacks wounded a “number of citizens and residents” and sparked “fires at several locations”, forcing a “temporary halt in some operations”, the statement said.
Saudi’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Riyadh would “take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty”, demanding the Houthis halt their attacks. During talks with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia were counterproductive and were damaging the global economy.
Lavrov said it was unacceptable to resolve these issues by military means. The Houthis released a statement later on Tuesday, saying the attacks were in response to more than 120 strikes launched by Saudi Arabia on Yemen in the last three days.
For more details: Navamalayalam.com