US Navy targeted again by Houthis; KSA urges UN to contain militias

US military officials said they would respond “at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner” after a new, attempted missile attack on a US Navy destroyer off the coast of Yemen on Wednesday, the second such incident in four days.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the USS Mason detected at least one missile launched from Houthi-controlled territory near Al Hudaydah, Yemen.
The latest attack came a day after Saudi Arabia called on the UN Security Council to condemn the terrorist acts committed by the Houthis and their allies.
“The ship employed defensive countermeasures, and the missile did not reach USS Mason,” Cook said in a statement. 
A US military official, who requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak, said that two missile were actually fired at the USS Mason in the Red Sea. Both missed.
Other officials said the USS Mason, which was accompanied by the USS Ponce — an amphibious transport dock — fired defensive salvos in response to the missiles, neither of which hit the ship or caused any damage as it operated north of the Bab Al-Mandab Strait.
The USS Mason detected an incoming missile at about 6 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) and deployed unspecified countermeasures, a defense official said.
The renewed attempt to target the US Navy destroyer will add pressure on the US military to retaliate, a move that would represent the first direct US military action against Houthis in Yemen’s conflict. The Pentagon hinted about possible retaliatory strikes on Tuesday.
The incidents, along with an Oct. 1 strike on a vessel from the United Arab Emirates, add to questions about safety of passage for military ships around the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
The Houthis, who are battling the internationally-recognized government of Yemen President Abd Rabbu Mansour Al-Hadi, denied any involvement in the previous attempt to strike the USS Mason or the nearby USS Ponce on Sunday.
The rebels appeared to use small skiffs as spotters to help direct the missile attack on the warship. The United States is also investigating the possibility that a radar station under Houthi control in Yemen might have also “painted” the USS Mason, something that would have helped the Houthi fighters pass along coordinates for a strike, the officials have said.
The Houthis, who are allied to Hadi’s predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, have the support of many army units and control most of the north including the capital Sanaa.
Reuters has learned that the coastal defense cruise missiles used against the USS Mason on Sunday had considerable range, adding to concerns about the kind of heavy weaponry that the Houthis appear willing to employ and some of which US officials believe is supplied by Iran.
 
UN Security Council
In a letter written by the Saudi mission to the UN, the Kingdom’s Permanent Representative Abdallah Al-Mouallimi highlighted “the continued hostilities committed by Houthi militias in Yemen and military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh on the Saudi border as well as within Saudi Arabia’s territorial boundaries.”
The letter called it a “flagrant violation of the security and safety of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular Resolution 2216 (2-15)”. The country also provided a list of numerous ballistic missile attacks violating Saudi borders from June 6 to Oct. 11, 2016.
“Saudi Arabia reaffirms its right to take all appropriate measures to counter the threats by the Iran-funded and backed Houthi-Saleh rebel militias and will spare no effort in protecting the security and safety of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and its people, and the region, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law,” said the letter.
On Monday, the Riyadh-led coalition fighting the Houthis accused the rebels of firing a ballistic missile toward the southwestern Saudi city of Taif, hundreds of kilometers from the Yemeni border.
The missile was one of two which the Saudi-led coalition intercepted on Sunday, the coalition said, adding that the other was launched toward Marib, east of Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa.
Separately, Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid bin Dhagr has stressed that Houthi militias and Saleh are a threat to security and stability in the Arab region.
He said the coup militias seek to tear the country apart and restore the long-forgotten imamate system of ruling, which was prevalent in northern Yemen before the September 1962 revolution.

Source: Arab News