Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia says debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed one person Saudi Arabia said debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed one person, while the leader of the Iran-backed Houthis called for protests and said the kingdom committed a “monstrous fabrication” when it accused the rebels of trying to attack Islam's holiest city. Meanwhile, United Nations-backed human rights experts said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran when the war began in February. Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East on Thursday.
Full coverage can be found here. Debris from an intercepted Houthi drone killed one person and injured two others in Saudi Arabia's Taif province, Saudi civil defense said Thursday. The statement didn't indicate when this happened, though Saudi Arabia said Wednesday that it had stopped a drone aimed at Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.
The Houthis are fighting the internationally recognized government in Yemen, which is backed by Saudi Arabia. The Houthis deny targeting Mecca. Iran's Foreign Ministry said a claim of intercepting a drone shouldn’t be used to escalate tensions.
In a televised speech, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi called for an end to what he described as Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen as fighting between the Houthis and Yemen's government forces continued. Al-Houthi denounced as an “utterly heinous lie” that the Houthis had attempted to target Mecca. He called for mass protests Friday in Sanaa and Houthi-controlled areas to show support for protecting holy mosques and rejecting the blockade.
An estimated 125,000 people in Yemen have fled as the Houthis have advanced down the Red Sea coast to a key maritime chokepoint. The offensive, linked to the wider Iran war, has threatened Saudi oil exports, pushed up global fuel prices and rattled markets. Human rights experts commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body said their findings focus on a pair of U.S. strikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children, on the first day of the war in Iran.
At least one U.S. missile hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, according to an investigation. The Trump administration has yet to directly accept the blame or release findings of a Pentagon investigation into the school bombing. The U.N.-backed team made the allegations of war crimes over the strike on the “clearly identifiable” school and another airstrike where missiles dispersed tungsten pellets over a “clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area” in the southern city of Lamerd.
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