UN rallies behind Saudi Arabia

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’s 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.
The attacks injured 73 people, including women and children, and sparked fires that temporarily disrupted operations at a major oil refinery in Jazan. The UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, told the council that his repeated warnings of a return to large-scale conflict had “now turned into a harsh reality.”
Houthi forces had seized the port city of Mokha, he said, giving them “a direct presence on the shores of the world’s most vital straits” 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.
More 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.
He repeated his call for the Houthis to halt attacks inside Yemen and across the border, as well as strikes and threats against commercial shipping.
The escalation, he said, risks “dragging the country into the wider and unresolved regional confrontation, with global repercussions.” He urged all parties to respect international law and preserve the path to a political settlement.
Speaking on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Bahrain’s envoy to the UN, Jamal Fares Alrowaiei, said the bloc “strongly condemns Houthi terrorist attacks against the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and the deliberate targeting of civilians and facilities in violation of international law and the UN Charter.
He said the strikes “constitute a serious escalation and direct threat to the security and stability of the region,” and that GCC member states view the security of Saudi Arabia as “an integral part” of their own security.
The 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 “perpetrators and supporters” accountable.