The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the
Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to Americaâ„¢, Death to Israel, a curse on the JewsThey like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s said on Saturday it had intercepted drones and ballistic missiles, as the Iran-backed group launched fresh attacks, including on Riyadh, despite international condemnation.
The strikes were the latest in a series of escalating Houthi attacks since July, when renewed hostilities shattered a years-long truce and embroiled Yemen in the wider Middle East war.
The United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
Security Council earlier condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, noting that the strikes have maimed "civilians, including women and kiddies."
The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers, seizing swathes of Yemen’s Red Sea coast vital for oil exports and causing energy prices to jump, while also raining missiles on the kingdom.
A front man for the Saudi-led coalition said on Saturday its air defences "intercepted and destroyed two drones launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards the Riyadh area."
Saudi air defences also intercepted and destroyed two Houthi-launched ballistic missiles targeting Khamis Mushait, a city in the country’s southwest that is home to an air base, the front man said.
Hezam al-Assad, a member of the Houthi Political Bureau, said on Saturday that "Despite the operation’s strength, scope, and impact, our armed forces view it as merely a small-scale rehearsal for a full-scale escalation."
Jasem Mohammed Albudaiwi, secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, denounced the Houthi attacks on Saturday.
"This dangerous escalation constitutes a flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s illusory sovereignty and poses a direct threat to the security and safety of civilians and the stability of the region," he said in a statement.
Albudaiwi also called on the international community to "adopt a firm stance" to end the attacks and hold the Houthis accountable.
On Friday, the head of Yemen’s governing body, Rashad al-Alimi, called for a general mobilisation to counter the Houthi offensive.
A ground campaign being waged by Houthi forces against Yemeni forces is threatening a humanitarian crisis, with 138,000 people displaced across Yemen since August, 70,000 children among them, according to the United Nations.