Yemen fighters allied to exiled government claim seizure of tons of Iranian-supplied Houthi weapons

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Fighters allied to Yemen's exiled authorities claimed Wednesday they had seized 750 tons of Iranian-supplied missiles and weaponry bound for the country's Houthi rebels, the latest interdiction of arms successful the country's decadelong warfare allegedly tied to Tehran.

For years, the U.S. Navy and different Western naval forces person seized Iranian arms being sent to the Houthis, who person held Yemen's superior since 2014 and person been attacking ships successful the Red Sea implicit the Israel-Hamas war.

The seizure announced Wednesday, however, marked the archetypal large interdiction conducted by the National Resistance Force, a radical of fighters allied to Tariq Saleh, a nephew of Yemen's precocious strongman person Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Houthis and Iran did not instantly admit the seizure, which the National Resistance Force said happened successful precocious June.

A abbreviated video bundle released by the unit appeared to amusement anti-ship missiles, the aforesaid kinds utilized successful the Houthis' caller attacks that sank 2 ships successful the Red Sea, sidesplitting astatine slightest 4 radical arsenic others stay missing.

The footage besides appeared to amusement Iranian-made Type 358 anti-aircraft missiles. The Houthis assertion they downed 26 U.S. MQ-9 drones implicit the past decennary of the Yemen war, apt with those missiles. The bulk of those losses having been acknowledged by the U.S. military.

The footage besides appeared to amusement drone components, warheads and different weapons. The unit said it would merchandise a elaborate connection successful the coming hours.

Iran denies arming the rebels, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been recovered connected the battlefield and successful oversea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi rebels contempt a United Nations arms embargo.

The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, successful September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized authorities into exile. A Saudi-led conjugation equipped with U.S. weaponry and quality entered the warfare connected the broadside of Yemen’s exiled authorities successful March 2015. Years of inconclusive warring has pushed the Arab world’s poorest federation to the brink of famine.

The warfare has killed much than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created 1 of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, sidesplitting tens of thousands more.