The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned repeated Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia as fighting in Yemen displaced more than 233,000 people and deepened shortages in the embattled city of Taiz.
Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement after meeting in Manama, Bahrain, on Sunday. They said an attack on one member affected all six countries and reaffirmed a joint defence agreement.
The ministers backed Saudi Arabia’s right to protect itself and accused the Iran-aligned Houthi fighters of carrying out deadly strikes against civilian airports and vital facilities.
The Saudi-led military coalition said it had intercepted two drones near Riyadh and in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province early on Sunday. It said another drone had been brought down near the capital several hours earlier, but did not identify who launched the aircraft.
The GCC called for tighter enforcement of a United Nations arms embargo against the Houthis and urged countries to formally designate the group as a terrorist organisation.
The ministers also welcomed an October 15 statement by the UN Security Council condemning Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and threats to shipping in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government separately appealed to the Security Council to take action over attacks on homes and state facilities. In letters to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the council’s president for October, Aglaia Balta, it referred to an attack on the presidential palace in Aden, where the government is temporarily based.
Regional security was also discussed in Abu Dhabi, where UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, according to the UAE’s state news agency.
Yemen fighting drives mass displacement
The diplomatic moves came as Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces continued offensives on several fronts.
The Yemeni military said the Houthis had fired missiles towards the central city of Marib on Sunday, while government troops reported advances in Taiz. Government-aligned commanders said eight soldiers were killed in fighting in Lahij province on Saturday.
Government forces also claimed to have killed 12 Houthi fighters in southern Taiz. That figure could not be independently confirmed.
The latest phase of the conflict followed Houthi gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast last month. Government forces then launched a counteroffensive aimed at retaking territory from the group, which seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
More than 233,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the International Organization for Migration. About 121,000 of those displaced are in Taiz province, where the conflict has disrupted supply routes.
A local office monitoring the siege said food prices in Taiz had risen fivefold, while cooking gas was unavailable and food stocks were running low as supplies were blocked through the city’s western entrance.
The World Health Organization warned that Taiz’s 12 hospitals had fuel for only four more days and had run out of surgical supplies. Oxygen and medicines were also critically scarce as the city dealt with a cholera outbreak.
