US Says Remains Committed to Helping Defend Saudi Arabia

General Kenneth Mckenzie, Commander of US CENTCOM, has stated that the US is committed to assisting Saudi Arabia in defending itself as Iran continues to provide arms, pieces, and expertise to Houthi forces in Yemen in order to assault the Kingdom.

According to Mckenzie, Iran-backed Houthi militias have fired over 150 ballistic missiles and drones at military, facilities, and civilian targets in Saudi Arabia since January 2021.

Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he clarified that US assistance to Saudi Arabia focuses on providing information to Saudi armed forces to help them thwart Houthi UAV, ballistic missile, and explosive boat attacks, which are illegal under international law and undermine diplomatic efforts.

According to McKenzie, the Iranian regime's provision of lethal assistance to the Houthis to allow such attacks prolongs the conflict in Yemen.

He went on to say that this "intensifies regional tensions," "threatens Saudi Arabia's stability," and "extends the misery of the Yemeni people, who face widespread food and water shortages, malnutrition, and inadequate healthcare services."

Senator Jim Inhofe, the committee's top Republican, emphasised Saudi Arabia's right to protect itself against Houthi attacks, saying the US administration should recognize that it would do the same if similar attacks occurred on its borders.

Inhofe cautioned the US administration against lifting sanctions on Iran, claiming that the money raised from the relief would be used to support terrorism in the region.

In an interview earlier this year, deputy commander of the al-Quds Force Rostam Ghasemi confessed to supplying the Houthis with arms and assisting the militias in developing them.

He also declared the presence of military advisors in Yemen to assist the group, emphasising that they are few, "counting on the fingers of one side."

All of the arms that the Yemenis have come as a result of Iran's assistance, according to Ghasemi, who also said that the weapons are manufactured in Yemen.

“They make the weapons themselves,” says the narrator. The commander said that his country no longer needed to send arms to the Houthis because the drones and missiles were manufactured in Yemen.

His comments contradict claims that hundreds of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members were present in Yemen.

Muammar al-Eryani, Yemen's Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism, slammed Iran for admitting its part in the coup and providing military support to the Houthis, as well as for fighting alongside militias in flagrant breach of international law.

He accused Iran of causing the humanitarian crisis in Yemen by destabilising the country.

"Tehran's use of Houthi militias to carry out its expansionist policy and spread instability and extremism poses a danger to foreign interests in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb," the Minister said.

Eryani said that Yemenis must recognize the essence of the war they are fighting and the enemy, who is attempting to separate them from their Arab surroundings by targeting "their identity, present and future," and urged them to unite in combating Iran's expansion project and its resources in Yemen.

He urged the international community and the United Nations Security Council to exert pressure on Iran's regime to avoid interfering in Yemen's and the region's affairs.