Houthis target Saudi base

SANAA, Sept 14: Yemen's Houthis launched a fresh barrage of missile and drone attacks on Saudi military targets on Monday, as Iran denied any involvement in the country's revived civil war.

The Houthis said they fired dozens of drones and missiles at the kingdom, prompting the Saudi Civil Defence to issue brief alerts in the neighbouring cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha.

Tehran has long supported the Houthis, a member of its anti-Israel "axis of resistance, including with weapons and technology, but analysts dispute the extent to which Iran is behind the renewed fighting.

"Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs," foreign ministry spokesman EsmaeilBaqaei told reporters on Monday, saying the Houthis are "entirely independent actors who make their decisions based on their own interests".

Iran has previously threatened to open "new fronts", including Bab al-Mandab, and the Houthi offensive has sent oil prices soaring once again, with the lengthy route through the Suez Canal and around Africa now the only secure route for Saudi oil to reach key Asian markets.

Yemen's prolonged civil war had been dormant for four years before bursting back into life in July over an Iranian flight to the capital Sanaa, as it became the latest conflict drawn into the wider regional war.

The Houthis' military spokesman Yahya Saree said Monday that the group's latest strikes targeted "fighter jet hangars, radars, runways, ammunition depots" at King Khalid Air Base in KhamisMushait, in retaliation for airstrikes by Riyadh.

He accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out "more than 300 airstrikes in the past five days" across Yemen.

Yemeni government forces on Sunday said they had recaptured positions in the southwestern province of Taiz from Houthi fighters and carried out airstrikes, telling the official Saba news agency they killed at least ten gunmen.�" AFP