UN Security Council condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia

The UN Security Council on Friday condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemeni Houthi rebels in a rare show of unity from the UN’s top body.

The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers, seizing swathes of Yemen’s Red Sea coast vital for oil exports, and causing energy prices to jump, while also raining missiles on the kingdom.

A ground campaign being waged by Houthi rebels against Saudi-backed Yemeni forces is also threatening a humanitarian crisis, with 125,000 people displaced across Yemen since the start of September, according to the UN’s humanitarian office.

“The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children,” said the rotating president of the Council, French UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.

Deepening humanitarian crisis

The Security Council “further stressed the importance of acting in accordance with international law, in particular the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and of upholding navigation rights and freedoms.”

The body “demanded the Houthis immediately cease their military escalation and their attacks impacting civilians and civilian objects,” according to the statement.

Houthi gains in recent weeks cemented the hold of Iran and its allies on the two waterways that the wider Gulf, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, relies on to ship out its oil and other fuel products.

The UN’s refugees chief, Barham Salih, warned Friday that “the latest escalation is also very disconcerting.”

“(In) Yemen’s deepening humanitarian crisis, where civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict, tens of thousands of people have already been displaced by the recent escalation and hostilities, with thousands fleeing the conflict, looking for safety in Djibouti and elsewhere,” he said.

“More crossings are reported to be underway.”

The Security Council statement called for “full, safe, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian access to all civilians in need.”

Washington and its allies, including Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, accuse Iran of backing the Houthi militant movement.

Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian denied the allegation on Thursday, saying, “The Houthis are responsible for their own actions.”

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