Riyadh — Saudi Arabia welcomes the new US administration's attention to the Middle East and its support for its friends who are fighting transnational terrorists such as Daesh and confronting Iranian interference in countries such as Yemen, according to Maj. Gen. Ahmed Assiri, adviser to the Defense Minister. "We stand together against a host of threats to regional stability," Assiri wrote in an op-ed piece on Fox News website on Saturday. He highlighted the recent meeting between US President Donald Trump and Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense. "President Trump enthusiastically endorsed the modernization drive that will make our country an even more valuable strategic partner," he wrote. Assiri, who is also the spokesperson of the Coalition forces fighting Houthi and allied militias in Yemen, said the new US administration is also tough-minded about the Iranian threat to regional stability. "Saudi Arabia is prepared to work with the US and its allies to restrain Iranian conduct, just as we have helped in stabilizing the Arabian Gulf and its energy supplies since World War II," he wrote. "In Yemen, which shares a 1,100-mile border with Saudi Arabia, Iran is supporting and arming the Houthi militia, modeled on the terrorist Hezbollah movement that has destabilized Lebanon. While making Yemen ungovernable, the Houthis are attacking Saudi Arabia, having fired more than 40,000 mortars, rockets and other projectiles at our towns, killing at least 375 civilians, closing more than 500 schools and displacing 24 villages and over 17,000 people. "In January, three Houthi suicide boats rammed a Saudi frigate off the western coast, killing two crew members and injuring three others. "Responding to this threat, Saudi Arabia leads a coalition of 12 countries fighting to reinstate Yemen's legitimacy, internationally recognized government and restore peace and security to the country." Assiri wrote that Saudi Arabia prefers to promote stability through peaceful means by providing much-needed diplomatic and economic support to strategic allies such as Egypt and Jordan. But aggression, active destabilization and acts of terrorism, including Iran's infringements in Yemen, demand a military response. Assiri listed the steps the Kingdom has taken over the years to fight terrorism, cut its sources of funding and negate its nefarious ideology.
