RIYADH: The terror campaign against Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthi militias was raised at the UN on Saturday as the Kingdom’s air defenses thwarted another drone attack on Abha International Airport.
The new attack came days after the Houthis sparked international condemnation when four armed drones targeted the airport in the southern Asir region, causing a commercial plane to catch fire on the tarmac.
On Saturday, Saudi-led Arab coalition forces intercepted and destroyed another drone launched by the Houthis from northern Yemen.
Spokesman Col. Turki Al-Maliki said the attack was a war crime. “We are taking the necessary measures to protect civilians from the threats of the Houthis,” he said.
In Geneva, Saudi UN envoy Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed Al-Wasil and Yemen’s UN envoy Dr. Ali Mujawar condemned the terror campaign at a meeting with representatives of 19 UN member states — the US, Denmark, Australia, Germany, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Iceland, Italy, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, France, Austria, and Canada.
Al-Wasil told the UN delegates that the Houthis were in breach of international humanitarian law. Over a period of five years, the Iranian-backed militia has attacked Abha International Airport with drones and missiles on several occasions. On June 12, 2019, a missile hit the arrivals hall which resulted in the injury of 26 people including two children. On June 23, another attack hit the parking area at the airport, resulting in seven injuries and the death of a Syrian resident.
Al-Wasil said these were terrorist acts as they target civilians and civilian facilities in the Kingdom, with legal, humanitarian, and economic repercussions for civilians in those regions.
The Saudi and Yemeni envoys called on all states to condemn the attacks. They said the Houthi militia did not seek a political solution that included all Yemeni factions, while the legitimate Yemeni government and the Kingdom wanted a comprehensive diplomatic solution.
Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), also strongly condemned Saturday’s attack on the airport. Al-Othaimeen said the OIC condemned “these criminal acts perpetrated by the terrorist Houthi militias by targeting civilians and civil facilities, holding the militias and those who support it with money and weapons fully responsible.”
The OIC secretary-general affirmed the full support of the organization to the Kingdom and all the measures that it took to protect its security and stability.
The latest attack came three days before the US is due to revoke its designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization, although sanctions will remain in place against the group’s leaders.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s government and experts have warned the US administration earlier this week against supporting a hasty peace settlement that does not include disarming the Houthi group.
Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak reminded US President Joe Biden of his previous commitments in 2012 when he was a vice president to support the Yemeni government during the early days of the transitional period.
