Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed fresh attacks on airports and military facilities in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, as fighting widened between the two sides and threatened traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route. The latest escalation has also led Saudi Arabia and allied Yemeni forces to launch a major ground and air offensive to retake areas seized by the rebels along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast.
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The Houthis said they fired ballistic missiles and drones at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, while the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile north of the capital. Flights were briefly disrupted, according to Flightradar24. The rebels also said they struck Abha airport, an air base in Khamis Mushait, and two military bases in Najran and Asir, all in the southwest near the Yemeni border.
As Riyadh came under threat again, new cage-like fences were put up this week around fuel tanks and other equipment belonging to Saudi Aramco near the Riyadh airport. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has seen oil and military assets targeted in recent days. The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Brig Gen Yahya Saree, announced the attacks on social media.
The latest ground fighting has centred on areas the Houthis seized a month ago, including positions along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which had given them better surveillance as they pursued a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping. On Monday, officials said forces from the Saudi-led coalition recaptured several key areas around the strait, through which about 12 per cent of global trade passes. Fighting inside Yemen has focused on and around Dhubab, about 54 km south of Mokha, and in Waziayah district in Taiz province, which connects Yemen’s highlands to the Red Sea and overlooks roads leading to the strait.
“The Houthis believe that they can maximise Saudi economic costs and compel Saudi Arabia to surrender to Houthi demands by striking civilian infrastructure, such as oil facilities and airports,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in an analysis. Coalition spokesperson Maj Gen Turki al-Malki said the coalition would provide “full operational support” to Yemeni government forces until the Houthis are “eliminated”. The coalition has said 100 fighter jets were supporting the operation, which also aims to take Sanaa, the rebel-held capital.
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi criticised Saudi Arabia for backing Yemen’s government forces in the latest escalation, which has broken a truce reached four years ago. In a speech on Wednesday, he also said the rebels were ready to support Palestinians in every way they could in case of “any new round of escalation” with Israel. The latest offensive began after the rebels seized Turbah on a main road linking Taiz with Aden, the seat of the internationally recognised government. Officials have said US support has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning.
The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early on Wednesday against Aden. An Associated Press journalist reported hearing explosions around 2 am. Saree said the rebels hit a military camp near the city’s airport with ballistic missiles, while security authorities in Aden said two missiles were fired at the airport and there were no casualties. One missile landed near the runway shortly before a scheduled flight from Cairo was due to arrive, the Human Rights Ministry said. Flight 603, operated by Yemen’s national airline, landed safely in Aden at 3.30 am, according to FlightAware. The ministry said the strike came as other passengers were waiting to board a flight to Jeddah. The renewed fighting has revived Yemen’s civil war after a four-year ceasefire, with nearly 1,000 people killed and more than 200,000 displaced, according to the United Nations, while the World Health Organisation has warned of rising cholera and malnutrition cases, harder access to trauma care, and shortages of surgical and other supplies.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
