Coalition strikes Houthi rebels in Yemen after attacks in Saudi Arabia

This is Riyadh's first response since the drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities last week. The Saudi-led coalition said it launched a military operation in Yemen on Thursday (September 18th) against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The coalition has destroyed four sites north of the port city of Hodeida (western Yemen), used by rebels to assemble remotely operated boats and marine mines, according to a statement from the Saudi official SPA news agency. It viewed these sites as threats to maritime security in the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the southern Red Sea.

Failed boat attack

The coalition said earlier that it had foiled an unmanned boating attack. "The coalition's naval force has detected an attempt by the Houthi terrorist militia linked to Iran to commit an impending hostile and terrorist act in the southern Red Sea using a remotely controlled booby-trapped boat," the coalition said in a statement. press release distributed by SPA. The boat was launched "from the Hodeida governorate" in western Yemen, she added, not knowing what he was aiming for. He was destroyed.

Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Interception and destruction of remote-controlled booby-trapped boat by Iranian-affiliated Houthi terrorist militia from Hudaydahhttps: //t.co/J85egrCnPV#SPAGOV pic.twitter.com/QvkTYDZ0OW

The Houthis announced via their Al-Massirah TV channel that the coalition had violated the agreement reached in Sweden under the auspices of the United Nations.

The coalition, backed by Western powers, has been intervening in Yemen since March 2015 against pro-Iranian Shiite rebels, who hold the capital Sanaa since September 2014, and much of north-western Yemen. The conflict in Yemen has left tens of thousands dead, most of them civilians, and plunged the country into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the UN.

Pompeo for a peaceful solution with Iran

Regional tensions with Iran have increased as a result of two simultaneous attacks last week against major Saudi oil facilities, which halved the kingdom's production and brought about a free fall in energy prices. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Washington and Riyadh blamed Iran for denying it.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on tour in the Gulf, assured Abu Dhabi on Thursday that the United States favored a "peaceful solution" with Iran. "We are here to build a coalition aimed at achieving peace and a peaceful solution," the US foreign minister said before flying to Washington, saying he hoped Iran would see things "the same way." way".

Interviewed by US television CNN, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that a US or Saudi strike would trigger "a total war", adding that his country does not want "war" but would not tremble if was to "defend oneself".

With AFP and Reuters