Yemeni Vice President Lt. Gen Ali Mohsen Saleh said on Sunday that the Arab coalition foiled Iran’s attempts to overthrow his country, Saudi state-news agency Al-Ekhbariya reported.

During a meeting with Yemeni Ministry of Defense officials and Arab coalition leaders in Marib, Mohsen said the Iran-backed Houthi militia were targeting not only Yemen but also the security of the region and were seeking to undermine international peace.

More: Yemen participates in BIDEC 2017 defence exhibition

The Yemeni vice president praised the Yemeni army’s victories in the Al-Bayda, Al-Jawf, Taiz, Al-Hodeidah, Midi provinces, as well as other fronts.

Yemen, one of the Arab world’s poorest countries, has been devastated by a civil war. The conflict has its roots in the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an Arab Spring uprising that forced its longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011.

More: Saudi-led coalition advances in Hodeidah province in Yemen

The situation was interrupted by Iran, which aggravated the situation in the region and led to chaos and terror. Saudi Arabian-led сoalition ground troops landed in Aden in August 2015 and helped drive the Houthis and their allies out of much of the south over the next few months.