Saudi Arabia has intercepted a missile south of Riyadh, in a move likely to affect Yemen's conflict. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has said the strike bore "all the hallmarks" of previous attacks using weapons from Iran.
Image: Reuters/F.Al Nasser
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Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a ballistic missile at the Yamama Palace in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, according to a spokesman for the group on Tuesday.
Minutes later, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted the ballistic missile south of the capital. "Coalition forces confirm intercepting an Iranian-Houthi missile targeting south of Riyadh. There are no reported casualties at this time," the state-run Center for International Communication wrote on Twitter.
A spokesman for the Houthi movement confirmed that a ballistic missile had targeted the royal court, where they claimed a meeting of Saudi leaders was taking place on Tuesday.
In November, the Houthis launched two ballistic rockets, with one aimed at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport and the other at the southwestern province of Assir.
According to Houthi-linked media, the Iran-aligned rebels said they had fired the short-range Burkan H2 missiles at the time in response to "Saudi-American aggression and crimes against the people of Yemen."
Hallmarks of Iran: US
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the strike bore "all the hallmarks of previous attacks using Iranian-provided weapons."
Haley called on the UN Security Council to punish Iran for its "dangerous violations" of UN resolutions and "destabilizing behavior."
She said the UN should look at sanctions "in response to its clear violation of the Yemen arms embargo," and proposed a new nuclear deal with Iran to prohibit all ballistic missile activity.
Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, contended that what was needed to implement the resolution on the nuclear deal was "to abandon the language of threats and sanctions, and to start using the instruments of dialogue — and concentrate on broadening cooperation and mutual trust."
Never-ending war
In response to the earlier Houthi action, the Saudi-led coalition imposed a blockade to prevent what it claimed was Iran smuggling advanced military technology to the Shiite rebels.
Backed by loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed earlier this month, the Houthis captured the Yemini capital Sanaa in 2014, forcing the country's internationally-recognized government led by Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee.
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign against the Houthis and their allies.
More than 15,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured since the conflict erupted, according to UN figures. The country has since been pushed to the brink of famine, and a cholera epidemic has affected nearly 1 million people.
Yemen: An ever-worsening crisis
Yemen has struggled to cope with crises prompted by its atrocious civil war, including catastrophic hunger and devastating cholera outbreaks. DW examines the conflict and how it affects the country's civilian population.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
War: The 'root cause' of Yemen's disasters
The UN has identified conflict as the "root cause" of Yemen's crises. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the war erupted in 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels launched a campaign to capture the capital, Sanaa. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched a deadly campaign against the rebels, one that has been widely criticized by human rights groups for its high civilian death toll.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Fighting keeps food from the famished
The conflict has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching large parts of the civilian population, resulting in more than two-thirds of the country's 28 million people being classified as "food insecure." Nearly 3 million children and pregnant or nursing women are acutely malnourished, according to the UN World Food Program.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Displacement: Converging crises
More than 3 million people have been displaced by conflict, including marginalized communities such as the "Muhammasheen," a minority tribe that originally migrated from Africa. Despite the civil war, many flee conflict in Somalia and head to Yemen, marking the convergence of two major migration crises in the Middle East nation. Yemen hosts around 250,000 Somali refugees, according to UNHCR.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Cholera: A deadly epidemic
The number of suspected cholera cases has exceeded more than 2 million and least 3,700 people have died from the waterborne bacterial infection in Yemen since October 2019, said the WHO. Although cholera can be easily treated, it can kill within hours when untreated.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
Unsuspecting victims of the'war on terror'
In Yemen, violence goes beyond civil conflict: It is considered a strategic front in the war on terrorism. The country serves as the operational base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, dubbed the "most dangerous" terrorist group before the rise of the "Islamic State." The US routinely uses drones to target al-Qaida leadership. However, civilians have often been killed in the operations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Arhab
Children's fate: Future marred by tragedy
In a country paralyzed by conflict, children are one of the most at-risk groups in Yemen. More than 12 million children require humanitarian aid, according to the UN humanitarian coordination agency. The country's education system is "on the brink of collapse," while children are dying of "preventable causes like malnutrition, diarrhea and respiratory tract infections," according to the agency.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Mohammed
Peace: An elusive future
Despite several attempts at UN-backed peace talks, the conflict continues to rage on. Saudi Arabia has vowed to continue supporting the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. On the other hand, Houthi rebels have demanded the formation of a unity government in order to move forward on a political solution. A peace deal, however, remains elusive.
