NEW YORK CITY
\nThe UN Security Council on Thursday expressed its overwhelming condemnation of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and near-unanimous solidarity with Riyadh, as member states warned that Yemen risked sliding back into full-scale war for the first time since a 2022 truce agreement.
\nThe emergency session was requested by the UK, the council\u2019s penholder on Yemen, and Bahrain after Houthi forces launched renewed missile and drone strikes on Sept. 8 against several targets in southern Saudi Arabia, including a military air base and energy facilities.
\nThe attacks injured 73 people, including women and children, and sparked fires that temporarily disrupted operations at a major oil refinery in Jazan. The UN\u2019s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, told the council that his repeated warnings of a return to large-scale conflict had \u201cnow turned into a harsh reality.\u201d
\nHouthi forces had seized the port city of Mokha, he said, giving them \u201ca direct presence on the shores of the world\u2019s most vital straits\u201d and raising further concern over freedom of navigation. Fighting had spread to Marib, Jouf and Al-Baida, he added, civilians were killed in Taiz, Hodeidah, Al-Baida and Jouf, and the shelling of displacement sites in Marib had killed children and destroyed shelters.
\nMore than 11,400 households have been displaced nationwide since Sept. 3, mostly from Taiz, Grundberg said, and fighting continues to drive people from their homes. He added that the UN had condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi civilian and energy infrastructure, in which dozens of civilians were wounded.
\nHe repeated his call for the Houthis to halt attacks inside Yemen and across the border, as well as strikes and threats against commercial shipping.
\nThe escalation, he said, risks \u201cdragging the country into the wider and unresolved regional confrontation, with global repercussions.\u201d He urged all parties to respect international law and preserve the path to a political settlement.
\nSpeaking on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Bahrain\u2019s envoy to the UN, Jamal Fares Alrowaiei, said the bloc \u201cstrongly condemns Houthi terrorist attacks against the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia\u201d and the deliberate targeting of civilians and facilities in violation of international law and the UN Charter.
\nHe said the strikes \u201cconstitute a serious escalation and direct threat to the security and stability of the region,\u201d and that GCC member states view the security of Saudi Arabia as \u201can integral part\u201d of their own security.
\nThe bloc backed all measures taken by the Kingdom to protect its citizens and assets under its right to self-defense, and condemned Houthi threats to maritime security and freedom of navigation. It called on the council to hold \u201cperpetrators and supporters\u201d accountable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK CITY The UN Security Council on Thursday expressed its overwhelming condemnation of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and near-unanimous solidarity with Riyadh, as member states warned that Yemen risked sliding back into full-scale war for the first time since a 2022 truce agreement. The emergency session was requested by the UK, the council\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n