Arab coalition shows evidence on Iran's role in Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, March 26 (KUNA) -- The Saudi-led Arab coalition for supporting legitimacy in Yemen has revealed evidence on Iran's supplying Houthis with the missiles and modern weaponry and vowed to retaliate.
In a news conference in Riyadh, the Coalition Spokesman Colonel Turki Al-Malki showed reporters fragments of the missiles fired at the Saudi Arabia Sunday.
Iran is smuggling sophisticated missiles and weaponry to Houthis through the Al-Hudeidah port, he said.
He noted that Iran has also deployed its Sayyad anti-aircraft missile system at the Houthis-controlled Sanaa International Airport and turned it into a military training camp.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was retaining the right to respond to Iran in the proper time and place as long as it continued providing Houthis with rockets to target Saudi cities, Colonel Al-Malki threatened.
He estimated the total number of ballistic missiles fired by Houthis towards Saudi territories, including densely populated cities such as Makkah and Riyadh, at 104.
The overwhelming majority of these missiles were fired from bases in the Yemeni cities of Saada and Imran, he said.
He clarified that the seven ballistic missiles that were intercepted by Saudi Air Defense Forces on Sunday had targeted civilian areas, especially in the capital city of Riyadh where shrapnel of the intercepted missiles fall on residential buildings in seven districts.
Iran was clearly violating the international humanitarian law by smuggling weapons to Houthis who became the first terrorist group to possess such a kind of missiles, he stressed.
He unveiled that a shipment of smuggled weaponry were seized before arriving in Yemen.
Colonel Al-Malki reiterated the Arab coalition's support to efforts to reach a political solution to the crisis in Yemen.
He dismissed as untrue the reports about covert talks between the coalition and Houthis.
The coalition would continue taking all required measures to maintain the security and stability of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and all other Gulf countries, he affirmed. (end) od.ibi