Houthis building ballistic missile system with Chinese parts that could target Saudi Arabia, Israel: Report
The Iran-backed Houthis are building a new advanced medium-range ballistic missile system with help of parts that have been shipped from China, a new report has claimed. With this, the group is increasing its dependency on China and would give it a capability to target Saudi Arabia and also Israel with more precision.
The report, which was released on Wednesday by the United Kingdom-based Conflict Armament Research group (CARG) that tracks the usage of weapons and their supply chains in conflict zones, claimed that the missile system would be based on Iran’s precision-guided ballistic missile Kheibar Shekan which has the ability to evade air defence systems.
The Kheibar Shekan has the ability to strike target within a range of 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers).
“The local ambition of the Houthis for manufacturing is beyond what was previously assumed,” The Associated Press (AP) quoted Fabian Hinz, a senior analyst at Conflict Armament Research, as saying. “These types of parts are very specific, and producing them would have required design information related to the missile.”
Hinz, however, pointed that they are “not goods that can be used for a variety of civilian applications”.
China neither refutes, nor accepts report
China neither has accepted, nor refuted the CARG report, but Liu Chang, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said that Beijing has international obligations that it is fulfilling. China is a key procurer of Saudi and Iranian crude, but has condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi airports and called for a de-escalation in the fighting.
“China has always adopted a prudent and responsible approach to the export of military products and strictly controls the export of dual-use items,” AP quoted Chang as saying.
How Chinese parts ended up with Houthis?
The CARG’s report is based on details provided by Yemen’s authorities in July after they interdicted two shipments that included suspicious equipment. These shipments had originated in China and were intended to be delivered Yemeni port of Hodeidah, which Israelis believe is used as a weapons transfer point by Iran.
Components integral to the functioning of a missile were among the parts found in the cargo. They included stabilizing fin cores, rocket motor aft closures with nozzle attachments, and rocket motor igniters. The cargo also contained phenolic resin, a material used in creating ablative heat shields. These shields protect ballistic missiles from the intense heat associated with atmospheric flight at high supersonic speeds, the report said.
Hinz said that the combination of materials made clear that the Houthis intended to assemble that specific type of Iranian-designed missile. “This particular type of system is very difficult to smuggle. And you can’t just disassemble and reassemble them,” he said.
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