• 300 ballistic missiles have been fired into Saudi Arabia by the Houthis since 2016, the ambassador said
• “We’ll continue to support a political solution in Yemen but always defend our national security”: Princess Reema

Zaynab Khojji

LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s sole goal in Yemen is to reach a political solution that would restore a “peaceful and prosperous state,” the Kingdom’s ambassador to the US said on Wednesday.

Princess Reema bint Bandar said Saudi Arabia has participated in every international negotiation and has honored every UN agreement aimed at achieving peace in the war-torn country.

Despite this, Houthi aggression has not stopped, and the militia responded to a cease-fire announced in April with a “rain of ballistic missiles on our soil,” the ambassador told the Arab-US Policymakers Conference.

“It has been the Houthis and their Iranian benefactors that break every agreement, walk away from every table and divert and block aid,” Princess Reema said.

Keynote Address by HRH Ambassador @rbalsaud at the 2020 @NCUSAR Arab-U.S Policymakers Conference
كلمة سمو السفيرة ⁦@rbalsaud⁩ في المجلس الوطني للعلاقات الأمريكية العربية.https://t.co/yiQxgVleYN

— Saudi Embassy (@SaudiEmbassyUSA) November 19, 2020

The ambassador said that 300 ballistic missiles have been fired into Saudi Arabia by the Houthis since 2016, most of them aiming at civilian targets.

“We’ll continue to support a political solution in Yemen but always defend our national security.

The Kingdom is the world’s largest donor to Yemen and provides it with humanitarian assistance and reconstruction support, Princess Reema said.

“Our foreign policy is grounded in the belief that stability and peace create prosperity and opportunity, that when people are included, given a hand up, when people are respected and empowered, there is no soil for extremism, no place for it to grow,” she added.