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Saudi Arabia Shoots Down Missile Fired From Yemen
Saudi Arabia Shoots Down Missile Fired From Yemen
SANA, Yemen — Saudi Arabia shot down a Scud ballistic missile fired from Yemen early Saturday by forces loyal to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to a statement by the official Saudi news agency. It was the first time Yemeni factions had used the weapon, signaling an escalation of the conflict and providing new evidence that a Saudi effort to pacify the rebels is faltering.
The missile was fired from northern Yemen toward the city of Khamis Mushayt, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, and was intercepted by two Saudi Patriot missiles, the statement said. The city is near a Saudi Air Force base.
Saudi Arabia and forces loyal to the Houthis have traded sporadic fire across the border since late March, when an Arab coalition led by the Saudis began a military offensive to force the Houthis to retreat from Sana, the capital, and other cities in Yemen. The Scud launching, confirmed in a statement by Houthi news outlets, was part of a pattern of escalating violence across the frontier in recent weeks that has raised fears that the war is expanding, even as diplomats intensify their efforts to convene negotiations between the combatants.
The Saudi Press Agency said that the firing of the missile on Saturday was part of a broader, failed offensive on the border carried out by troops allied with the Houthis. It came a day after Saudi airstrikes in northern Yemen killed at least 50 people, according to Yemeni health officials.
The sudden appearance of the Scuds undermined repeated claims by the Saudis that they had destroyed the Houthis’ stocks of heavy and ballistic weapons with hundreds of airstrikes targeting military bases and weapons stores. And it raised new questions about the effectiveness of the open-ended Saudi offensive, which has failed to achieve its stated goals over the course of a war that has killed more than 2,000 people.
Scores of deaths have occurred during airstrikes on arms stores in Sana, with secondary explosions sending shrapnel hurtling through residential areas.
It was not clear how many of the missiles remained in the possession of the Houthis, who are allied with well-armed military units loyal to Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Mr. Saleh’s forces publicly received at least one shipment of Scud missiles from North Korea in 2002.
The United States, which had seized the shipment of 15 disassembled and concealed missiles, eventually allowed the weapons to pass after Mr. Saleh, whom the Bush administration considered an ally in the fight against terrorism, promised they would be used for defensive purposes.
Saudi officials said Saturday that after downing the Scud, warplanes were able to locate and destroy the missile launcher.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.