soccer Page 16 Page 15 THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT ice hockey Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 / RAJAB 18, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17625 16 PAGES 150 FILS Riyadh ‘intercepts’ missile attacks Kuwait condemns Opinion DUBAI, Feb 28, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia said Saturday it intercepted a missile attack over its Washington needs to capital and bomb-laden drones targeting a south- ern province, the latest in a series of airborne as- saults it has blamed on Yemen’s rebel Houthis. look itself in mirror Kuwait earlier, condemned in the strongest terms the Ye- meni Houthi militias’ repeated terrorist attacks with booby- trapped drones and ballistic By Ahmed Al-Jarallah missiles on civilian targets in Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times the Saudi capital Riyadh and Newswatch other cities, said the Foreign WHEN I read the report of the US National Intelligence Ministry. Agency regarding the murder of Saudi citizen Jamal The persistence of these Khashoggi and the evidence that the agency resorted to, I KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait said Houthi terrorist acts is a dan- recalled the adage “Those who live in glass houses should 962 people tested positive for gerous escalation that threatens not throw stones”. coronavirus with fi ve related Saudi Arabia’s security and the If this is the new US administration’s way of dealing deaths reported on Monday tak- region’s stability, the ministry with the world, especially its allies, then it is undoubtedly ing the total cases up to 190,852 said in a statement. as deaths rose to 1,083 respec- heading towards sparking speculative nonsensical crises. If tively, according to the health It affirmed that these acts bla- Washington sees itself as the guardian of human rights in ministry. tantly defy international and hu- the world, then the aforementioned adage applies to it. The number of people hospi- manitarian laws and undermine Before the US can set itself up as a universal guide in this talised with the virus currently international efforts to reach a regard, it must fi rst learn how to set an example. It must stands at 10,560, with 156 of political solution to the conflict deal with the disasters related to human rights that it causes them in intensive care units, in Yemen. around the world and the terrible crimes that its police com- he added, revealing that some The ministry also renewed mit almost everyday in broad daylight and in front of the 6,423 swab tests were conducted Kuwait’s call to the interna- media and the people without doing anything against it. In over the last day out of a total of tional community, mainly the 1,784,449, spokesman Dr. Ab- UN Security Council, to as- other words, the US should put its house in order before dullah Al-Sanad told a press asking others to do so. conference. sume its responsibilities in The report, which was portrayed by the American media The ministry also reported stopping this escalation to help machine and the administration of President Joe Biden as earlier that 1,012 more people maintain international peace dangerous and in condemnation of the Saudi Crown Prince have been cured of the virus, and security. Mohammed bin Salman, is nothing more than a set of spec- raising the total of those to have The State of Kuwait backs ulations based on unsubstantiated statements. overcome the disease to 179,209. the Kingdom in all the mea- By the way, it constituted a Saudi, Gulf, Arab and Islamic (KUNA) sures it takes to defend its consensus on the status of Saudi Arabia, and the leadership ❑ ❑ ❑ security, stability and sover- of this young prince and his skill in managing the affairs of KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s pub- eignty, the foreign ministry his country under the directives of King Salman bin Ab- lic budget recorded a defi cit of reiterated dulaziz especially after the bold decisions that he took with about KD 5.41 billion dinars The Saudi-led military co- social, economic and political openness in the past fi ve years. from April 2020 to January alition fighting in Yemen’s Therefore, what the Biden administration expected was 2021, during the 10 months of yearslong war announced “a painful blow to the kingdom and weakening of the fi scal 2020/2021, according to the Iran-allied Houthis had Crown Prince”, but it was actually a great motivation to In this photo released by Saudi Press Agency, SPA, scattered debris of the ballistic missile the monthly report issued by the launched a ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s rebel Houthis are seen on a citizen’s house in Riyadh late Feb 28. (AP) Ministry of Finance, an increase toward Riyadh and three boo- consolidate his role and to continue the constructive ap- of 549 percent compared to the proach that he started since taking offi ce. defi cit recorded during the cor- by-trapped drones toward the Despite the whirlwind caused by the report, the United responding last fi scal, which province of Jizan, with a fourth States cannot abandon its historic alliance with Saudi Ara- was KD 833.32 million (before toward another southwestern bia - its most important partner in the Middle East. De- deducting the share of the Future city and other drones being spite some negative statements by the US offi cials, there Generations Fund), reports Al monitored. No casualties or is a great commitment to the historic alliance, in addition Rai daily. damage were initially reported. to President Joe Biden’s assertion in confronting “threats The total revenue collected There was no immediate com- from forces supported by Iran, faced by Saudi Arabia “ from April 2020 to last January ment from the Houthis. because they are threats that affect US strategic interests was about KD 7.85 billion, an The attack comes amid increase of 4.7 percent over the sharply rising tensions in the in the region. So today, after the report, there is a diffi cult estimated budget for the same pe- equation that Washington has to solve. riod of KD 7.5 billion. Middle East, a day after a mys- It is either developing its alliance or yielding to the en- During the 10 months of the terious explosion struck an thusiasm of some of its anti-Arab offi cials targetting par- current fi scal, oil revenues were Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf ticularly Saudi Arabia. 6.713 billion dinars, an increase of Oman. That blast renewed It is true that this development has occupied some circles 19.3 percent of the estimate, concerns about ship security and media outlets that seek to hunt any difference in view- while actual non-oil revenues in the strategic waterways that points between the two allies, but it will not really change recorded 1.14 billion dinars, ac- saw a spate of suspected Iranian counting for 60.8 percent of the attacks on oil tankers in 2019. anything. For example, those who went so far as to specu- estimated budget. late about the political future of Crown Prince Mohammad ❑ ❑ ❑ Intercepting bin Salman seem to be raving about what they do not know. This is purely a sovereign matter of Saudi Arabia, and no KUWAIT CITY: Offi cial statis- The state-owned Al-Ekh- one can cross its red lines ... neither the United States nor the tics show the number of non- bariya TV broadcast footage of rest of the world. The young prince continues to fulfi ll his Kuwaiti workers in the private what appeared to be explosions sector decreased by 115,688 from in the air over Riyadh. Social mission in which he expresses the truth about the aspirations the end of 2019 until December of not just the youth, but rather the Saudi people as a whole. media users also posted videos, 31, 2020, while at the same time with some showing residents There is no doubt that this rhetoric or hypocritical com- the government sector saw an in- shrieking as they watched the edy launched by President Biden’s administration ended crease of 9,411 Kuwaitis during fiery blast pierce the night sky, before it began, and Saudi Arabia continues on its path the same period. The statistics issued by the which appeared to be the king- of renaissance. This path is not attached with the United dom’s Patriot missile batteries States, as Saudi Arabia has strong relations with the world, Public Authority for Civil Infor- mation, a copy of which was ob- intercepting the ballistic mis- which qualifi es it to form alliances with many countries, es- sile. pecially at this stage when the huge projects are expanding. tained by the Al-Seyassah daily, 28 Kuwaitis left the private sec- Col. Turki al-Maliki, the It was better for the US administration to hesitate a little tor, indicating the total national spokesman for the Saudi-led before releasing such nonsense because “those who live in workforce in this sector dropped coalition, said the Houthis were glass houses should not throw stones”. to 63,240 by the end of 2020, trying in “a systematic and de- while it was about 63,268 at the Email: [email protected] liberate way to target civilians.” end of 2019. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh Follow me on: ❑ ❑ ❑ issued a warning to Americans, KUWAIT CITY: His Highness calling on them to “stay alert the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al- in case of additional future at- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on tacks.” Flight-tracking websites [email protected] Sunday congratulated nationals showed a number of flights and residents on the 60th Anni- scheduled to land at Riyadh’s versary of National Day and the international airport diverted or 30th Anniversary of Liberation Day.