Sanaa: Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said his group now has “home-grown” ballistic missiles that can penetrate US-made defensce systems owned by the Saudi-led coalition.
“We now possess high-precision missiles that can cruise very long distances, and the new American system has failed to intercept them,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Houthi chief as saying while addressing a gathering.
In January, the Houthis claimed they launched several rounds of missile and drone attacks against targets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is more than 2,000 km away from Yemen.
The attacks prompted fears that the militia group owns more powerful missiles that can reach further targets.
The UAE, which has played a big role in the coalition, said its US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) had successfully intercepted most of the Houthi missiles.
Al-Houthi also accused the Saudi-led coalition and the Yemeni government of continuing to “stockpile munitions to stoke more tension in the phase”, despite a nationwide truce in place in the war-torn country.
The UN-brokered ceasefire went into effect on April 2, marking the first major breakthrough in years to end the war that has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed Yemen to the brink of starvation.
So far, the truce has been largely held, but the warring parties often trade accusations of breaches.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government out of the capital Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in 2015 to support the Yemeni government.
The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition.
–IANS
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