RIYADH: The Arab coalition released footage and photos on Sunday it said is evidence of Hezbollah and Iran’s involvement in Yemen’s seven-year war and the use of Sanaa airport as a missile launch site.
At a news conference in the Saudi capital, coalition spokesman Brigadier. General Turki al-Maliki shows Hezbollah instructors training the Houthis on how to use drones.
In some videos, boxes of drone parts can be seen with parts bearing the Hezbollah logo.
Al-Maliki called Hezbollah “a cancer in Lebanon”, which initially affected Lebanon before spreading outside the country.
“The terrorist organization Hezbollah has spread destruction in the region and the world,” he told reporters, adding that the Iran-backed group has claimed responsibility for targeting civilians in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
In another video, the coalition said one was instructing Hezbollah leader Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim, the Houthis’ second-in-command, to organize a coup and military operations to topple the government on the UN sanction list. in, and was also responsible for securing and controlling all routes in and out of Sanaa and the acquisition of Amran Governorate.
“The military sector of Hodeidah is very important. If Hodeida collapses, support to face the invasion will end,” the Hezbollah leader is heard saying. “The sea is the only gateway for the support to come. If we lose the sea, we will have no support and the Mujahideen will not come. We want a huge crowd of Mujahideen, we want to organize our ranks.”
Al-Maliki also offered footage and aerial surveillance in which he said militias were “militarizing” Sanaa airport and turning it into a launch pad for ballistic missiles and drones targeting Saudi Arabia.
The press conference came a day after the international community strongly condemned a cross-border attack by Houthi militias targeting the southwestern city of Jazan, which killed two and injured seven on Friday.
Al-Maliki said that Iran promoted sectarian ideology in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, that the Houthis relied on orders and instructions from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and that they had adopted the regime’s sectarian ideology.
Regarding the recent air strikes in Sanaa, al-Maliki said that the coalition focused its attention on not affecting the operational capability of Sanaa airport and that the attacks targeted a drone depot.
He dismissed claims by the Houthis that they had besieged the port city of Hodeidah: “We are monitoring the activities of the Houthi militia round the clock.”
Al-Maliki said that the Houthis’ attempts to control the energy-rich Marib, one of the last remaining government strongholds, put the livelihoods of 3 million Yemenis at risk, but that it was necessary to support coalition forces. Was committed to protecting civilians during his campaigns.
He also said that Iran’s ambassador to Sanaa Hassan Erlu, who died of COVID-19 last week, led the planning of military operations in Marib, and that
The Houthis were refusing to allow UN humanitarian planes to land.
The militias had launched 430 ballistic missiles and 851 armed drones into Saudi Arabia since January 2018, killing 59 Saudi civilians, al-Maliki said, calling on the international community to stop the hostile acts.
The Houthis also launched 100 booby-trapped boats and planted 247 sea mines, threatening maritime navigation, but coalition forces were successful in securing navigation in the Red Sea.
Al-Maliki said more than 30,000 Houthi had been killed since the beginning of the year, adding: “We know the Houthi leaders’ whereabouts and give them one last warning.”
Saudi Arabia’s initiative to end the Yemeni crisis, which was welcomed by the international community, was still on the table, he said, but the Houthis did not seek peace and rejected all UN efforts to reach a political solution. Gave.
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