Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH – Col. Turki Al-Malki, spokesman of the Coalition Forces for Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen, said on Monday that the crimes committed by the Iranian regime constitute a devastating threat to regional and international security and flagrant violation of international laws and relevant UN resolutions.

He said the world community and the UN Security Council must take necessary measures to hold the Iranian regime accountable for violating the UN Security Council resolutions.

Addressing a press conference at the Armed Forces Club in Riyadh, Al-Malki said the Iran-backed Houthi militias launched on Sunday night as many as seven ballistic missiles carrying the stamp of the terror-sponsor Iranian regime.

He cited the Iranian crimes such as weapon-trafficking, supporting terror groups and organizations, and providing them with military capabilities like ballistic and thermal missiles and drones as well as booby-trapped speed boats.

"Thanks to Allah Almighty, all missiles were successfully intercepted by the Saudi Royal Air Defense forces before reaching their three targets in Riyadh, two in Jazan, and one each in Najran and Khamees Mushait.

He said one of the missiles targeting Riyadh, regrettably, resulted in the martyrdom of an expatriate and injury of two, all Egyptians.

The scattering splinters of the missiles dispersed over a number of civilian-populated neighborhoods in Riyadh, in a flagrant violation of the international law.

He offered condolences to the family of Abdulmottaleb Ahmed Hussein Ali and the Egyptian people. He said preliminary findings of the Houthi militia missiles attack on several Saudi cities will be made available to the public.

According to Al-Malki, the combination of extremist ideology and a terror-sponsor state has contributed to further stirring up struggles in some regions.

Col. Al-Maliki said Yemen has so much suffered from the extremist ideology of Houthis who usurped power in Sana’a and controlled the State’s institutions, a development that led to the destabilization of the country and suffering of its people.

“The Houthi militia has become the first terrorist group in history to possess ballistic missiles. It launches ballistic missiles against the Yemeni people at home as well as against its neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia, to reach the villages and border cities and to Makkah, Yanbu and Riyadh.”

He noted that Houthi militia provokes the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world by targeting the land of the Two Holy Mosques.

The firing of missiles toward Riyadh, home to more than 8 million people, is a dangerous development which must be confronted.

Al-Malki said Houthis had turned Sana’a International Airport into military barracks and a station for the arrival of smuggled weapons and missiles of all kinds in addition to a military base to launch ballistic missiles.

“While the Houthi militias provide weapons and devastation to Yemen, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman issued a generous order to deposit two billion dollars in the Central Bank of Yemen,” he said while highlighting the coalition’s humanitarian initiatives in the country.