Saudi-Led Coalition to Close Yemen Ground, Air, Sea Ports

The Saudi-led coalition has claimed that the shutdown will act as a preventative measure against weapons smuggling.

The command entity for the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government in the country’s civil war has announced that it will temporarily close all Yemen ground, air and sea ports in attempts to limit flaws in existing inspection procedures that have resulted in a supply of ballistic missiles and other military equipment to the armed Houthi political opposition faction, according to local media.

Coalition command claimed that Houthi militants were responsible for Sunday's missile launch, and called it a flagrant military aggression, state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.

The announcement comes a day after Saudi air defense forces reported that they had intercepted a ballistic missile in midair that was fired from Yemen over northern Riyadh. This follows another attack on October 30 when a missile was fired from inside of Yemen at a Saudi army base in the Aseer province on the border between the two countries.

Sunni-led Saudi Arabia accuses Shiite-run Iran, its key rival in the region, of arming and training the Houthi faction in Yemen. Iran has refuted the claims, although Tehran makes no secret of its political support for the Houthis.