Iranian media: Houthis in Yemen fires 17 missiles at Saudi coalition

Saudi Arabia and its allies, including the Yemen government, UAE and others have been fighting Iranian-backed Houthis since 2015.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
Supporters of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they attend a rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen's war, in Sanaa, Yemen March 26, 2019. (photo credit: KHALED ABDULLAH/ REUTERS)
Supporters of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they attend a rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen's war, in Sanaa, Yemen March 26, 2019.
(photo credit: KHALED ABDULLAH/ REUTERS)
Houthi rebels in Yemen fired 17 Zelzal-1 rockets at Saudi-led forces in Yemen on Friday, according to the Iranian Tasnim news agency.
Saudi Arabia and its allies – including the Yemeni government, UAE and others – have been fighting Iranian-backed Houthis since 2015. The Houthis, equipped with Iranian technology, have fired numerous ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia.
The smaller artillery rockets of the Zelzal-1 group can hit targets up to 160 km. away and have been in use from the 1990s. These kind of rockets were later used to construct the Zelzal-2 and Zelzal-3. They have also been exported to Hezbollah, Syria and other Iranian allies.
Riyadh’s war in Yemen is increasingly controversial in the West. The US Congress recently sought to end domestic support for the conflict, a move vetoed by US President Donald Trump. For its part, Saudi Arabia says it is important to stop the Iranian-backed Houthis. The war has caused suffering and mass starvation, but both sides dispute who is at fault.
Iranian media boasts of the Houthis using Iranian rockets as a way to show that their proxies are effective.
The US Navy recently sailed a carrier through the Bab el-Mandeb Straits near Yemen. There have been fears that the Houthis would attack naval transit in the straits, which are key to the world’s oil trade.