A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia on Monday threatened retaliation against arch-foe Iran, accusing the Shiite power of being behind a barrage of Yemeni rebel missile attacks on the kingdom.
Saudi forces said they intercepted seven missiles on Sunday, including over the capital Riyadh, in a deadly escalation that coincided with the third anniversary of the coalition's intervention in Yemen.
Displaying wreckage at a news conference in Riyadh of what it said were fragments of those ballistic missiles, the coalition claimed forensic analysis showed they were supplied to Huthi rebels by their ally Iran.
"The missiles launched against Saudi territory were smuggled from Iran," coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki told reporters.
We "reserve the right to respond against Iran at the right time and right place", he added.
The missile strikes resulted in the first reported fatality from Huthi fire in the Saudi capital.
Egyptian national Abdul-Moteleb Ahmed, 38, died instantly in his bed when what appeared to be burning shrapnel struck his ramshackle room in Riyadh's Um al-Hammam district, leaving a gaping hole in the roof, witnesses told by AFP at the site.
Three other Egyptian labourers in the same room were wounded and hospitalised, they said.
The Iran-aligned Huthis said on their Al-Masirah television that Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport was among the targets.
Malki alleged the rebels in Sanaa were using the airport there to launch missiles on Saudi territory, adding the coalition had seized a number of smuggled weapons.
Iran has repeatedly denied arming the Huthis in Yemen, despite claims by the United States and Saudi Arabia that the evidence of an arms connection is irrefutable.
- Show of strength -
A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen on March 26, 2015 to try to restore the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after the Shiite Huthis and their allies took over large parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
Hours after the missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, hundreds of thousands of Huthi rebel supporters flooded the streets of Yemen's capital Monday to mark three years of war.
Sanaa's Sabaeen Square was a sea of Yemeni flags as rebel authorities ordered all schools and government offices shut for the anniversary.
Huthi supporters carried portraits of rebel chief Abdulmalik al-Huthi and speakers blasted out a fiery speech by Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah Shiite movement, praising the "steadfastness" of the Yemeni people.
War songs, poems and speeches condemning the United States, the main arms supplier for the Saudi-led coalition, echoed across the square.
"No one can speak on behalf of the Yemeni people. The people taking to the streets today are the real voice," Ibtisam al-Mutawakel, head of a Huthi cultural committee, told AFP.
About 10,000 Yemenis have been killed and 53,000 wounded since the start of the coalition intervention in Yemen, which triggered what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Despite the intervention the rebels remain in control of the capital, northern Yemen and the country's largest port.
- 'Possible war crime' -
Amnesty International, which has criticised both sides in the Yemen war for neglecting civilian safety, on Monday said the "indiscriminate" Huthi missile attack "could constitute a war crime".
The rights group has also slammed the Saudi-led alliance for possible war crimes in Yemen.
Britain urged Iran to "stop sending in weapons which prolong the conflict", while Tehran accused London -- a key arms supplier for Saudi Arabia -- of hypocrisy.
Delivering a veiled swipe at Iran, France called the transfer of missile capabilities to non-state actors "irresponsible".
The US State Department said Washington would support the Saudis' "right to defend their borders against these threats".
Rebel leaders have sought to highlight the role of the United States in the Saudi-led intervention.
At Monday's rally, Saleh al-Sammad, head of the rebels' Supreme Political Council, said the rebels were "ready to reach an understanding" to end the intervention and the coalition's blockade of Yemen.
"It is the Americans who are directing this aggression and participating directly on a number of fronts," Sammad told the rally.
The Hadi government said Monday that the overnight attacks on Saudi Arabia amounted to "an open rejection of peace".
The US Senate last week rejected a bipartisan bid to end American involvement in Yemen's war, voting down a rare effort to overrule presidential military authorisation.
The US has provided weapons, intelligence and aerial refuelling to the Saudi-led coalition.
Washington formally approved defence contracts worth more than $1 billion with Riyadh last Thursday during a high-profile visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
74% of French people against weapons sales to Saudi: poll
Paris (AFP) March 26, 2018 - Three out of four French people believe it is "unacceptable" to sell military weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to a poll published Monday.
The study by independent research group YouGov was commissioned by the anti-corporation lobby group SumOfUs to mark the third anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.
Several NGOs including Amnesty International are seeking to raise pressure on President Emmanuel Macron over French arms sales ahead of the visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Paris in early April.
Norway has suspended arms exports to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia's coalition partner in Yemen, while the new German government says no weapons will be supplied to countries involved in the conflict.
Seventy-four percent of French people questioned for the poll said they were against selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and 71 percent were against supplying to the United Arab Emirates.
France, one of the world's biggest arms exporters, continues to sell equipment to both countries and campaigners claim Paris does not have sufficient guarantees that the weapons will not be used in Yemen.
French exports have included Caesar artillery guns and ammunition, sniper rifles and armoured vehicles.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's office insists that the weapons sold to Saudi Arabia are for defence and are only being used to deter rebel attacks.
In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition of nine African and Middle Eastern countries intervened in the civil war in Yemen.
The coalition supports Yemeni pro-government forces against Huthi rebels, who are supported by Iran and control Sana'a, Yemen's capital.
Since then, nearly 10,000 Yemeni citizens have been killed in the conflict, and more than 53,000 have been injured.
The UN has called it the "worst humanitarian crisis" in the world.
The study was carried out online by YouGov on March 20-21 with a sample of 1,026 people aged 18 and over.
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US hostility means Iran must boost China, Russia ties: official
Tehran (AFP) March 24, 2018
Growing hostility from US President Donald Trump means Iran must strengthen its ties with Russia and China, a top official said on Saturday. "The use of radical elements hostile to the Islamic Republic shows that the Americans are trying to increase the pressure against Iran," said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament's foreign affairs committee. His comments, carried by the semi-official ISNA news agency, were the first reaction by a senior Iranian official to Trump's appoint ... read more
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