Tue 01 October 2019:
Arab Coalition Spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Maliki said on Monday that Houthi footage claiming to show a major attack on Saudi forces near the border with Yemen is fabricated.
When asked about the recently-released video, al-Maliki said: “Unfortunately, there are regional and international media that are carrying such news. It is definitely fabricated. They (Houthis) are making up events and trying to influence the popular opinion in Yemen, the region, and the world,” al-Maliki said.
The colonel argued that Houthis have claimed attacks such as controlling the Saudi Abha International Airport before, adding that the Arab Coalition has disproved the militia’s false claims time after the other.
“It’s not appropriate for the coalition’s media to respond to every single false claim that the militia put out,” he said.
In a press conference in Riyadh, Al-Maliki also said that a Houthi attempt to target units from the Yemeni army was thwarted, adding that the Houthis are continuing to use the Yemeni city of Hodeidah as a base for launching ballistic missiles.
Al-Maliki said the Iran-backed Houthi militia has not committed to the UN-brokered Stockholm Agreement, a peace deal between the Yemeni government and the Houthis regarding the port of Hodeidah, which includes a ceasefire in the city and the redeployment of forces there and in other areas.
Al-Maliki said that the Houthis are also launching missiles from the cities of Amran, Sanaa, and Saada.
Al-Maliki had said the September 14 attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran” and “did not originate from Yemen despite Iran’s best efforts to make it appear so,” during a press conference on September 18. He added that the drones used in the attack were outside the range of the drones used by the Houthi militia.
Drone attacks caused fires at two Saudi Aramco facilities, in Abqaiq and Hijrat Khurais oilfield, on September 14. The attacks knocked out more than half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production and damaged the world’s biggest crude processing plant.
Iran has denied accusations from the international community that it was behind the attacks and the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen claimed responsibility.
Washington will reportedly soon present a report on the recent attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities which found no relation between the attacks and the war in Yemen.
-alarabiya.net
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