UN Security Council condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, backs self-defence

Right · 2On 15 October the UN Security Council condemned "in the strongest terms" the continued and escalating attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia, and affirmed the Kingdom's "inherent right" of self-defence in accordance with international law. 1 2 Right · 2Arab News describes the text as a presidential statement, which requires the agreement of all 15 members and is read into the record at a public meeting. It says this carries more weight than the council's earlier press statements of 7 August and 18 September, which had demanded the Houthis cease their military escalation. AFP calls it a joint statement shared by the council's president, Greece's Evangelos Sekeris. 1 2 Right · 2Council members condemned the "reckless strikes" on 10 and 11 October on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. They also cited multiple strikes on other airports and Saudi Aramco facilities, and expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and condolences to the victims' families. 1 2

Right · 2Arab News puts the death toll from the 10 and 11 October strikes at 14, while AFP says an attack last weekend killed 13 people; both say more than 300 were wounded. Arab News says the 10 October missile hit the part of the complex housing terminals 3 and 4, and that most of the dead came from the Arab world and the Global South, including four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and a US citizen. It describes the attack as the deadliest against the Kingdom in more than a decade. 1 2 Right · 2AFP reports that Riyadh's airport has been targeted 20 times since the start of October. Arab News lists earlier attacks: on 8 October, three Saudis including a pilot were killed and a Saudia aircraft destroyed, and on 6 and 7 October strikes on Abha and King Khalid airports killed three people. 2 1 Right · 2The statement also condemned the Houthis' continued attacks and threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. According to Arab News, it stressed the safety of vessels and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. 2 1

Right · 1Arab News says the council pressed for full implementation of Resolution 2216 (April 2015), which set a targeted arms embargo on the Houthis. It also backed the Yemeni government's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and UN envoy Hans Grundberg's work toward a negotiated, Yemeni-led political settlement. 1 Right · 1AFP adds recent developments. On 15 October the Saudi coalition said it intercepted a missile near Medina, and the Houthis, who have said they would spare Islam's holy sites, denied being behind it. The same day a Houthi missile attack hit the presidential palace in Aden, the Yemeni government's interim capital. Yemen's Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said it killed five and injured 16. 2 Right · 1Yemen's civil war, in which a Saudi-led coalition has backed the government since 2015, reignited in September after a years-long truce collapsed. 2