madaresharghi [1]
A confidential letter by a UN panel has put under question Saudi claims that the missiles used by Yemeni Ansarullah forces against Saudi Arabia have been provided by Iran.
On November 10, a panel appointed by the UN Security Council sent a confidential letter to diplomats, which states that it has seen no proof of Saudi Arabia’s claims that Iran was responsible for the recent missile attack by the Yemeni Ansarullah movement targeting Riyadh, the US-based investigative website The Intercept reported, according to Russian Sputnik news agency.
While the Saudi-led coalition has accused Iran of the Yemeni missile attack targeting King Khalid International Airport near Riyadh, Tehran has strongly denied the claims.
Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of supplying Yemen with short-range ballistic missiles what Iran has categorically refuted.
While Tehran has made no secret of its political support for the movement, it has repeatedly denied rumors of arming the Yemeni forces, with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stating that the Houthis’ missile launch at Saudi Arabia’s capital was a “reaction to aggression,” adding that Riyadh’s belief in the Islamic Republic being its “enemy” is a “strategic mistake.”
A Saudi-led, US-backed coalition allied with the former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, has been at war with Yemen since March 2015.
Yemen has been under heavy airstrikes by Saudi Arabia’s warplanes as part of the brutal war in an attempt to crush the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstall Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.
The coalition tightened its blockade on Yemen after the missile was fired.
Local Yemeni sources say over 14,000 people have been killed since the war began.
Another 2,100 people have died of cholera since April as hospitals struggle to secure basic supplies amid blockades on ports and the country’s main international airport.