Egypt has condemned an attack carried out on the Saudi capital, Riyadh, by the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen. The missile attack was intercepted and destroyed by the air defence forces of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
In a statement on Monday, Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended support for the Saudi measures to protect its national security. Egypt also reiterated its strong condemnation of such “despicable terrorist attacks” targeting the kingdom.
On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition announced that its air forces had intercepted a Houthi missile that had been launched from Yemen towards Riyadh on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Houthi movement denied launching any attacks against Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Yahia Saree, Spokesperson for the Houthi movement, stated via his Twitter account that “the movement did not carry out any attacks against any country belonging to the Saudi-led coalition during the past 24 hours”.
However, Saree stressed that carrying out such operations against the coalition is a “natural and legitimate right” of the movement. He pointed out that the group’s forces announce any operation they carry out “with pride, honour and glory”.
Egypt has repeatedly stressed the need to respond to all ceasefire calls, in order to reach a settlement for the Yemen crisis, in accordance with the relevant references. This particularly relates to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative, the outcomes of the comprehensive national [Yemeni] dialogue, and UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
Yemen has witnessed significant political turmoil since March 2015, when the Iran-backed Houthi movement declared a coup in September 2014 against the internationally supported government.
Since then, Saudi Arabia announced the formation of the Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Pakistan, Djibouti, Sudan, Senegal, Kuwait, and Egypt.
