The 1000th day of the Yemen civil war was marked by escalating violence including an audacious but unsuccessful Houthi rebel ballistic missile attack aimed at the Saudi king’s official residence in Riyadh. It is the third such missile attack mounted by Houthis inside a month and was intercepted by the Saudi Royal Air Force south of the capital.

Saudi, backed by the US, claim the missiles are being supplied by Iran and have used the alleged leakage of sophisticated weaponry into Houthi hands to justify a blockade on humanitarian and commercial aid going through the port of Hodeida, the key artery for the delivery of aid and fuel for tens of thousands of Yemenis. The missile attack may have been a response to a recent growing Saudi air raids that the UN High Commission for Human Rights claimed had led to 136 civilians killed and another 87 injured in the strikes on Sanaa, Saada, Hodeida, Marib and Taez governorates between December 6 and 16. There is growing evidence that the Saudis are mounting an “escalate to de-escalate” strategy in a bid to bring the deadlocked and multi-layered war to a head. The Saudis, in conjunction with its allies the United Arab Emirates, have been trying to form new political alliances inside Yemen to isolate the Houthis, as well as mounting assaults on Houthi positions south of the capital in Sanaa.(theguardian)…[+]