The United States imposed sanctions on two military leaders of the Houthi group in Yemen, while Riyadh announced the interception of a drone launched by the Houthis towards the Kingdom.
Today, Tuesday, the US Treasury Department said in a statement that it had blacklisted the Houthi’s Chief of Staff, Mansour al-Saadi, and the commander of the air forces and air defense forces loyal to them, Ahmed Ali Ahsan al-Hamzi.
The Treasury said Saadi and al-Hamzi were responsible for attacks targeting civilians, neighboring countries, and commercial vessels in international waters.
She added that these actions aimed to support Iran's destabilizing agenda, fueling the conflict in Yemen and pushing it to the brink of starvation, as she put it.
The new sanctions were imposed after US President Joe Biden withdrew support for a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, and declared that the 6-year war "must have an end."
This war is widely seen as a proxy struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The ministry added that Saadi had received extensive training in Iran and helped smuggle weapons to Yemen, while al-Hamzi obtained Iranian-made weapons for use in the civil war, including launching drone attacks.
In turn, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that these measures come in response to the behavior of the Houthis, who have played a prominent role in the conflict and have deepened the humanitarian crisis of the Yemeni people.
Blinken added that the group is using Iranian support to launch attacks on civilian targets in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as he put it.
On the other hand, the Saudi Press Agency reported that a drone launched by the Houthis towards southern Saudi Arabia was intercepted and destroyed.
The agency quoted a Saudi spokesman as saying that attempts to attack civilians in a deliberate manner constitute war crimes.
For his part, the Houthi military spokesman said that they had targeted the airfields at Abha International Airport with drones.