Ansarullah Ready to Strike Riyadh, Abu Dhabi If Coalition Moves On Hudaydah

By Staff, Agencies

Yemen’s Ansarullah group said they were building their ballistic capabilities and their forces stand ready to strike Riyadh and Abu Dhabi if implementation of a UN peace deal in the port city of Hudaydah is breached.

A spokesman of the Ansarullah forces said the group has a “stockpile of missiles” and the group can hit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the two Gulf states leading the coalition against Yemen, whenever the military command decides on the timing.

“We have intelligence asserting that the enemy is preparing for an escalation in Hudaydah and we are following their movements closely. Our forces stand ready for any requested and adequate measure,” Colonel Yahya Sarea, a spokesman of the Houthi forces, was quoted as saying by the group-controlled state news agency SABA late on Saturday.

Sarea said the nature of the conflict has made ballistic missiles and drones a “strategic choice” and the only response to the Saudi-led coalition air strikes.

The ceasefire in Hudaydah has largely held but violence escalated elsewhere. Last week, air strikes on a village in the northern Hajjah province martyred 10 women and 12 children and wounded 30 people.

Tens of thousands of people had been martyred in the conflict since the US-backed Saudi-led alliance waged a war in March 2015 in support of the regime of Abed Rabbu-Mansour Hadi who fled Yemen.