GCC denounces Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia as Yemen conflict escalates
The Gulf Cooperation Council has strongly condemned the series of attacks carried out by Yemen’s Iran‑aligned Houthi forces against Saudi Arabia and affirmed its support for the kingdom. The statement, issued on Sunday after the foreign ministers’ meeting in Manama, Bahrain, was signed by the six member states – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The GCC declared that an assault on any member state is an attack on all, invoking the bloc’s joint defence pact and reaffirming Saudi Arabia’s right to self‑defence. The condemnation came moments after the Saudi‑led coalition reported shooting down two drones near Riyadh and in the Eastern Province, and intercepting a third drone near the capital earlier that day. The coalition did not identify the origin of the unmanned aircraft.
Gulf ministers accused the Houthis of targeting civilian airports and critical infrastructure, and called for stricter enforcement of the United Nations arms embargo against the group. They also urged the international community to formally label the Houthis as a terrorist organisation. The ministers welcomed a statement from the United Nations Security Council on 15 October that condemned Houthi strikes on Saudi territory and threats to Red Sea shipping.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government has separately appealed to the UN Security Council to act against Houthi attacks on residential areas and state facilities. In letters to UN Secretary‑General Antonio Guterres and the council’s president for October, Aglaia Balta cited a recent strike on the presidential palace in Aden, where the government is temporarily based.
On the same day, UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud in Abu Dhabi to discuss regional security, according to the UAE news agency WAM.
In the battlefield, Saudi‑backed Yemeni government forces are advancing on several fronts. The Yemeni military said Houthi missiles were fired toward the central city of Marib on Sunday, while government troops reported gains in Taiz further south. Government‑aligned commanders said eight soldiers were killed in fighting in Lahij province on Saturday, and claimed to have killed 12 Houthi fighters in southern Taiz, although these figures have not been independently verified.
The latest surge follows Houthi advances along Yemen’s Red Sea coast last month. Government forces have launched a counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory lost after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 233,000 people have been displaced, with about 121,000 of them in Taiz province where supply routes have been disrupted. Reporting from Taiz, Al Jazeera correspondent Hadeel al‑Yamani noted that cooking gas is unavailable and food stocks are dwindling as Houthi forces block supplies at the city’s western entrance. Local monitors say food prices have risen fivefold.
The World Health Organization warned that the city’s twelve hospitals have fuel for only four more days and have run out of surgical supplies. Oxygen and medicines are critically scarce, and Taiz is grappling with a cholera outbreak.