Coalition ready to ‘counter-attack’

Riyadh : A stern warning was issued yesterday to Houthi armed militia supported by Iran to end “targeting civilians”, and using “suicide attack tactics” or face firm “deterrent counterattack”.

In a less thinly veiled warning to Iran, following missile attacks targeting Riyadh, Colonel Turki Al-Malki, Spokesman of the Coalition Forces in Support of Legitimacy in Yemen said, “The command will take all deterrent actions in accordance with international humanitarian law and customary rules.”

Al Malki warned Houthi militia against using these capabilities against civilian objects and people as well as vital and industrial
facilities. 

The coalition also called upon the “leaders and planners of the terrorist militia and those who stand behind them to reconsider their use and be ready to bear the consequences”.

The statement came soon after Saudi Arabia said its air defence forces successfully intercepted a ballistic missile over Riyadh and shot down two drones with Iranian features over the southern cities of Abha and Jazan. 

The drones were targeting an airport in the southwestern province of Abha and another in Jazan, according to state media and the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen. 

The attacks mark the fourth time in five months that missiles have flown over Riyadh 

“The air defence system detected at 07:40 am an unidentified body flying towards Abha International Airport and destroyed it,” said Al-Malki. 

The missiles were fired just hours after President Donald Trump confirmed the U.S. would strike Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces are backed by Russia and Iran, over a suspected chemical weapons attack.

Shortly after the incident, air navigation was closed in accordance with the global aviation laws and was reopened later.  

Col. Al-Malki said that specialists of the joint coalition forces had examined the fragments of the drones and identified it as a “hostile Houthi drone with Iranian features and specifications and were trying to target the airport.”

He also confirmed that another drone was monitored and destroyed by air defence forces in Jazan and that immediate tests conducted by specialists revealed that the “fragments were identical to the hostile drone’s fragments that were downed at Abha International Airport.”

The Houthis said they were targeting an Aramco facility in Jazan, but the company said its facilities there were operating “normally and safely”. 

The company is building a 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Jazan, part of a new economic city on the Red Sea, which is expected to become fully operational in 2019. (With input from agencies)