RIYADH: The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi movement said on Monday that ballistic missile attacks on Saudi Arabia were a serious escalation and threat to regional and international security.
Coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Malki told a news conference in Riyadh that Sunday’s missile attacks on the Saudi capital were a clear violation of international law and accused the Houthis of smuggling weapons from Iran.
The coalition threatened retaliation against Tehran, accusing it of being behind the multiple attacks on the Kingdom.
We “reserve the right to respond against Iran at the right time and right place,” coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki told a news conference, calling the development a “dangerous escalation.”
Saudi forces said they intercepted seven missiles on Sunday, including over the capital Riyadh, in a deadly escalation that coincided with the third anniversary of the coalition’s intervention in Yemen.
Displaying wreckage at a news conference in Riyadh of what it said were fragments of those ballistic missiles, the coalition claimed forensic analysis showed they were supplied to Houthi rebels by their ally Iran.
“The missiles launched against Saudi territory were smuggled from Iran,” coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki told reporters.
"Iran has become like an appendix in the body of the international community. Either they correct their evil path or the international community will correct it for them," he said.
Al-Maliki added Houthi rebels have fired 104 ballistic missiles towards Saudi Arabia and Iran exploits the Al-Hudaydah Port in Yemen to smuggle ballistic weapons to the Houthis.
He also stated that Houthis are using Sanaa airport as a platform to train their militias and as a base to launch their Iranian-made "Sayyad" ballistic missiles.
Presenting the remnants of alleged Iranian-made missiles, Al-Maliki described the possession of ballistic missiles by Houthi militants as a "serious developmnet".
"Yemen has suffered from Iranian intervention and support for Houthi militants to force a coup," he added.
The missile strikes resulted in the first reported fatality from Houthi fire in the Saudi capital.
Egyptian national Abdul-Moteleb Ahmed, 38, died instantly in his bed when what appeared to be burning shrapnel struck his ramshackle room in Riyadh’s Um Al-Hammam district, leaving a gaping hole in the roof, witnesses said.
Three other Egyptian laborers in the same room were wounded and hospitalized, they said.
The Iran-aligned Houthis said on their Al-Masirah television that Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport was among the targets.
Al-Maliki alleged the rebels in Sanaa were using the airport there to launch missiles on Saudi territory, adding the coalition had seized a number of smuggled weapons.
Iran has repeatedly denied arming the Houthis in Yemen, despite claims by the United States and Saudi Arabia that the evidence of an arms connection is irrefutable.