An official source stated today that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia strongly condemns the attack on the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mason by Houthi-Saleh militia in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen. The source described the attack as a terrorist act that jeopardizes international maritime (security) and a systematized attack carried out by an Iran-backed militia targeting commercial marine at the Strait of Bab el-Mandab. This attack came after several other recent acts by the Houthi-Saleh alliance, including the attack on a UAE vessel carrying humanitarian aid on October 1; continual aggression against civilians in the Saudi border-towns; the launching of ballistic missiles toward Saudi territories, the last of which was on Sunday October 9, 2016, toward Makkah, which is a continued breach of commitments and violations of agreement made by the Yemeni people at the National Dialogue Conference; a refusal to abide by the will of the international community and UN Security Council resolution 2216; and are in conflict with international and UN Special Envoy's efforts to reach a political solution.
