Iran-backed Houthis launch missile targeting Yemeni city of Marib, lands among civilian area

The Houthi militias launched a missile targeting the Yemeni city of Marib on Wednesday night, landing within a civilian area, according to the Arab Coalition’s spokesperson.

Colonel Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Arab Coalition, said the Iran-backed Houthis launched a ballistic missile from within Yemeni territory that then fell among civilians and infrastructure within Marib.

“The Houthi militia continues to violate international humanitarian law by launching ballistic missiles and indiscriminately targeting civilians, as well as gatherings, which threaten the lives of hundreds of civilians,” Col. al-Maliki said in a statement.

“This launch is a deliberate escalation against innocent civilians that comes in the context of the Houthi terrorist’s approach to targeting civilians and civilian objects inside Yemen and its neighbors,” he added.

A new UN report endorses long-standing claims that weapons “of Iranian origin” were used in several attacks against Saudi Arabia last year and have been exported to the Houthis in Yemen.

The report provides evidence for US officials in their case to extend the arms embargo on Iran and further calls into question Tehran’s public commitments to dialogue and the nuclear deal.