(MENAFN- Arab Times) KUWAIT CITY, Aug 9, (Agencies): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Thursday sent a cable to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, strongly denouncing a terrorist ballistic missile attack on Saudi Arabia's southern Jizan province, which left a Yemeni resident dead and several civilians injured.
Wishing mercy for the victim and a swift recovery for the wounded, His Highness the Amir said this aggressive act, which targeted the Kingdom's security and safety, runs counter to all heavenly religions and international principles.
His Highness the Amir also reiterated that Kuwait stands by Saudi Arabia and supports all measures it is taking to maintain its security, praying that God Almighty would bestow security, stability and prosperity on the Kingdom under the Arawise leadership of the Saudi King. Two more cables of identical sentiments were sent to the Saudi King by His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim sent a cable to Saudi Shura Chairman Abdullah Al-Sheikh, denouncing the terrorist ballistic missile attack on Saudi Arabia's southern Jizan province.
Al-Ghanim reiterated in a statement Kuwait's principled position which rejects any aggressive act that threatens the Kingdom's security and stability, wishing mercy for the 'martyr' and a swfity recovery for the injured. Fragments from the missile launched into Saudi Arabia from Yemen by Houthi forces killed one civilian and wounded 11, Saudi state media said on Thursday.
The Houthis, an Iran-allied group that controls much of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, said it fired a missile at the Jizan Industrial City in southern Saudi Arabia, according to the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV. The Kingdom's air defense forces intercepted the missile, Saudi state news channel al-Ekhbariya said late on Wednesday.
State news agency SPA later said one Yemeni resident in Jizan was killed. 'The interception resulted in projection of fragments throughout some residential areas, which caused the martyrdom of a Yemeni resident, and injuries among 11 civilians,' the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis in Yemen's civil war said in a statement reported by SPA on Thursday.
The Houthis have fired dozens of missiles into the Kingdom in recent months, part of a three-year-old confl ict widely seen as a proxy battle between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Most have been intercepted by the Saudi military. The coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened in Yemen's war in 2015 to unseat the Houthis and restore the internationally recognised government in exile.
Airstrike kills 50
An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels hit a bus driving in a busy market in northern Yemen on Thursday, killing at least 50 people including children and wounding 77, Yemen's rebel-run Al Masirah TV said citing rebel Health Ministry figures. The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, said it targeted the rebels, known as Houthis, who had fired a missile at the Kingdom's south on Wednesday, killing one person who was a Yemeni resident in the area.
Al Masirah TV aired dramatic images of wounded children, their clothes and schoolbags covered with blood as they lay on hospital stretchers. The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Twitter that its team at an ICRC supported hospital in Saada received the bodies of 29 children, all under 15 years old. It also received 48 wounded people, including 30 children, it said.
The attack took place in the Dahyan market in Saada province, a Houthi stronghold. The province lies along the border with Saudi Arabia. The bus was ferrying local civilians, including many children, according to Yemeni tribal leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. There was no breakdown in the casualties and it was not immediately clear how many of the victims were on the bus itself and how many were pedestrians in the immediate area around it.
It was also unclear if there were other airstrikes in the area. Col Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the attack in Saada targeted the rebels who had fired a missile at the Kingdom's south, killing one person and wounding 11 others.
The coalition said Wednesday's projectile, fired toward the southwestern Saudi city of Jizan, was intercepted and destroyed but its fragments caused the casualties.
The statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, also said the missile was launched 'deliberately to target residential and populated areas.' Al-Malki insisted Thursday's attack carried out in Saada is a 'legitimate military action' and is 'in accordance with international humanitarian law and customs.' He also accused the Houthis of recruiting children and using them in the battlefields to cover for their actions. Saudi Arabia backs Yemen's internationally recognized government and has been at war with the Houthis since March 2015. The rebels control much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
'Scores killed, even more injured, most under the age of ten,' the head of the ICRC in Yemen, Johannes Bruwer, said on his Twitter account, adding that the ICRC in Yemen is 'sending additional supplies to hospitals to cope with the infl ux.' Later on Thursday, airstrikes hit the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and sounds of the blasts reverberated across the city's southern and western neighborhoods.
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties in those strikes. Yemen's stalemated, three-year war has killed over 10,000 people, badly damaged Yemen's infrastructure and crippled its health system. The coalition faces widespread international criticism for its airstrikes in Yemen that kill civilians.
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