Yemen's Houthis step up drone attacks on Saudi Arabia
Yemen's Iran-aligned
Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia this week in
a resurgence of tactics that had largely subsided since late last year amid
United Nations-led peace efforts.
The latest hostilities
coincide with rising tensions between Iran and Gulf Arab states allied to the
United States and come just as a sensitive, UN-sponsored peace deal is being
carried out in Yemen's main port of Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions.
The Houthis, who
claimed responsibility for last week's armed drone strikes on oil assets in
Saudi Arabia, said on Tuesday that one of their drones hit an arms depot at the
kingdom's Najran aiport near the Yemeni border, causing a fire.
The Saudi-led military
coalition said a civilian facility in Najran province was targeted with an
explosive-laden drone.
It said on Monday that
Saudi defence forces intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles fired towards Mecca,
Islam's holiest site. The Houthis denied doing so.
On Sunday, the Houthis
said they would attack 300 vital military targets in Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Saudi Arabia and the
UAE head a Western-backed coalition of Sunni Muslim states that intervened in
Yemen in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government
ousted from power in the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014.
The movement has
during the war repeatedly targeted Saudi cities and vital installations -
mostly in border areas, but on several occasions the capital Riyadh as well.
The Houthis pledged last November to stop attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE
at the request of the United Nations.
While attacks on Saudi
border areas continued, the Houthis had avoided targeting major cities or
infrastructure. There have been no reports of attacks on the capital since last
June.
The coalition has in
return conducted multiple air strikes on the Houthi-held Yemeni capital Sanaa
which it says target military facilities and aim to neutralise the group's
ability to fire missiles and drones.
Riyadh and Abu Dhabi
accuse Iran of arming the Houthis, a charge denied by the group and Tehran.
FRAGILE REGIONAL
CEASEFIRE
It was not yet clear
how the rising tension could impact a regional ceasefire and troop withdrawal
deal in Hodeidah - the first major diplomatic breakthrough in a conflict that
has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.
The deal was stalled
for months before a unilateral Houthi withdrawal from Hodeidah and two other
Red Sea ports 10 days ago. That is meant to lead to a pullback by coalition
forces massed on the edges of Hodeidah, the main entry point for Yemen's
commercial and humanitarian aid imports.
Saudi Arabia accused
Iran of ordering last week's drone strikes on two Aramco oil pumping stations,
which followed sabotage acts on Saudi oil tankers off the UAE coast. Iran
denied being behind the drone attacks.
The UAE has yet to blame
anyone for the tanker operation, but two US government sources said last week
that US officials believed Iran encouraged the Houthis or Iraq-based Shi'ite
Muslim militias to carry it out. Iran distanced itself.
Saudi Arabia will hold
an emergency Arab summit in Mecca on May 30 to discuss the implications of the
attacks, which came as the United States and Iran spar over US sanctions
reimposed on Tehran and over the US military presence in the Gulf.
Yemen's conflict is
widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The
Houthis, who control the biggest urban centres in Yemen, deny being Iranian
puppets and say they are waging a revolution against corruption.
The World Food
Programme said on Monday it was considering suspending aid deliveries in areas
under Houthi control due to fighting, insecurity and interference in its work.
Some 9 million of the
12 million Yemenis whom the WFP is seeking to reach with rations each month
live in Houthi-held areas, WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said, denouncing
diversions of aid supplies especially in areas in Houthi hands.
"All this needs
to stop. We are here to save 12 million people - many of them children and
women - to save them from famine," he told a briefing in Geneva.