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Yemeni official slams UN envoy remarks after missile fired at Riyadh

Yemen’s ambassador to Tehran has criticized UN envoy Martin Griffiths over his reaction to the Arab nation's missile reprisal inside Saudi Arabia.

“As before, the UN envoy is in the habit of adopting double standards by condemning the victim and exonerating the executioner and inverting reality,” Ibrahim Mohammad al-Dailami tweeted. 

Griffiths on Sunday released a statement, saying he was “gravely dismayed and disappointed” after the Yemeni army staging drone and missile attacks over Riyadh and another Saudi city in retaliation. 

Saudi state media reported that at least one ballistic missile and a rocket had been intercepted over Riyadh and the southwestern city of Jazan. However, a spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense said two people were wounded in the strikes. The contradictory accounts were not explained by Saudi authorities. 

'Yemeni domestically-built missiles, drones strike sensitive targets in Saudi capital, elsewhere'

‘Yemeni domestically-built missiles, drones strike sensitive targets in Saudi capital, elsewhere’Yemeni Armed Forces say they targeted strategic and sensitive sites in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh and elsewhere in the kingdom by a squadron of domestically-manufactured combat drones and ballistic missiles.

The latest missile retaliation was the first against the kingdom since September when the Yemeni army hit Saudi oil installations with ballistic missiles.

Griffiths called the retaliatory strikes unlawful, but Dailami turned the tables on the UN envoy, saying he was “ignoring all axioms of international law”.

The ambassador pointed to a proposal last Monday by UN chief Antonio Guterres who called for “an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world” and welcomed by the Houthis. 

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Dailami said if Griffiths really insists on implementing the proposal, he should ask the UN Security Council to issue a “clear resolution” ordering the cessation of the conflict in Yemen and the removal of a Saudi blockade on the impoverished nation. 

The Saudi war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and brought the entire nation to the edge of famine.

The Yemeni army and its allies in the Houthi Ansarullah movement have been putting up a strong resistance against Saudi-led invaders and their mercenaries.

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