Missile fired at Riyadh was Iranian: US

Dubai : The ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi militia that targeted the Saudi Arabian capital was from Iran and bore Iranian markings, a top US Air Force official in the Middle East has said.

Lieutenant General Jeffrey L Harrigian, who oversees the Air Forces Central Command in Qatar, made the comments at a news conference held in Dubai yesterday. Harrigian said authorities were investigating how the missile was smuggled into Yemeni territory amid a Saudi-led Arab coalition forces controlling the country’s airspace, ports, and borders.

After the missile strike near Riyadh on November 4, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said investigators examining the remains of the rocket found evidence proving “the role of Iranian regime in manufacturing them.” More detail was not given, though the ministry also mentioned it found similar evidence after a  July 22 missile launch into Saudi Arabia.  However, a Houthi militia spokesperson said that it was a Burkan 2-H missile - a Scud-type missile with a range of more than 800km. 

French President Emmanuel Macron also said this week that the missile fired at Riyadh was “obviously” Iranian. 

Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement earlier in the week that the July launch involved an Iranian Qiam-1, a liquid-fueled, short-range Scud missile variant.

Iran used a Qiam-1 in combat for the first time in June when it targeted ISIS militants in Syria in retaliation for twin militant attacks in Tehran.

Harrigian declined to offer any specifics on what type of missile they believed was used most recently.  Iran had denied the allegations that it provided missiles to the Houthi militia  and what the Saudi-led Arab  coalition called a “a clear act of aggression” on the part of Iran.   

Coalition opens border

The Saudi-led military coalition fighting against Yemen’s Houthi militia has reopened a land border crossing, partly easing a blockade imposed earlier this week. Aid agencies had warned of famine and a health catastrophe if other ports stay shut.

The coalition said on Monday it would close all air, land and sea ports in Yemen to stem the flow of arms to the Houthis from Iran, after Saudi Arabia intercepted a missile fired toward its capital Riyadh.

The Al Wadea border crossing, linking Saudi Arabia with territory in eastern Yemen controlled by the Saudi-backed government, was reopened on Thursday, a Yemeni official and witnesses said, letting food and other supplies across.