Yemen's Houthi rebels stage mass rally to mark 3rd year of war

SANAA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of thousands of Yemeni Shiite Houthi rebel supporters held a mass rally at the heart of the capital Sanaa on Monday to mark the third anniversary of the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war.

The rally is a show of force hours after the rebel group fired a barrage of long-range ballistic missiles toward the Saudi capital Riyadh.

On the stage of the Alsabeen Square, tens of Houthis dressing in Yemeni traditional robes and ceremonial curved daggers, called Jambiya, and wielding guns and rifles, performed a popular dance for the crowds, as powerful speakers blasted out war song and enthusiastic poems.

The crowds, carried the country's national flags and held portraits of the rebel chief Abdul-Malik a-Houthi, chanted the famous Houthi slogan "Death to U.S., Death to Israel."

Head of the Houthi political council Saleh al-Sammad delivered a speech to the crowds, vowing "to step up missile attacks on Saudi Arabia unless it stops war on the country."

"We will witness more successful advance of our Rocketry Forces' capabilities," he said.

"If they (Saudi-led coalition) want peace, we are with peace, as we have told them before," he said, adding "if air strikes continue, we will have the right to defend ourselves by all available means."

On Sunday midnight, the Houthi rebels fired several long-range ballistic missiles toward four Saudi international airports.

The missiles targeted King Khaled International Airport north of the Saudi capital Riyadh, Abha International Airport in the Saudi southwestern province of Asir, the International Airport of the southern Saudi province of Jizan, and the regional airport of the Saudi southeastern province of Najran.

"The move came in response to an order from leader of the revolution, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi," the Houthi group said in a statement carried by the group-controlled Saba news agency.

Saudi Arabia said its air defense forces shot down three missiles over the capital Riyadh shortly before Sunday midnight. It said an Egyptian resident was killed and two other Egyptians were wounded when debris fell on a house in Riyadh.

The Sunday midnight attacks were the latest in a series of attacks claimed by the Yemeni Houthi group against the Saudi airports.

The Houthi rebels have seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa, since late 2014, and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

On March 26, 2015, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of Arab forces, backed by the United States, to intervene in Yemen's conflict to back the government of exiled President Hadi.

The coalition has launched thousands of airstrikes on the Iran-aligned Shiite Houthis, in attempts to roll back rebel gains and reinstate Hadi in the capital Sanaa.

Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Saudi cities, with most of them intercepted by Saudi air defense forces.

The war has so far killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and pushed the Arab country to the brink of mass famine. Enditem