The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Sunday that Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah has been training the Houthi rebel forces, including launching armed drones against Saudi Arabia.
Iran-aligned Houthi group had fired 430 ballistic missiles and 851 armed drones at Saudi Arabia since the war started in 2015, killing 59 Saudi civilians, the spokesman for the coalition said.
General Turki al-Malki, said the Iran-aligned movement had been using Sanaa airport as a base to launch attacks on the kingdom, an allegation the Houthis deny. But he shared videos of Hezbollah members training Houthi forces.
Al-Malki said, “The Houthis do not have the ability to make the decision to be part of the political solution in Yemen.” He blamed Iran of spreading sectarian conflict in the region.
Yemen has been mired in violence since 2014 when the Houthis took over the capital Sanaa and ousted the internationally recognized government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened against the Houthi movement in 2015 but the war has stalemated for years, killing tens of thousands of Yemenis, mostly civilians.
The conflict is largely seen as another proxy war between Middle East archrivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.
With reporting by Reuters
