Gulf bloc backs Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks
The six Gulf states say an attack on one is an attack on all. In Taiz, besieged by the Houthis, hospitals have fuel for four days.
Foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the six-monarchy bloc of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, condemned the Houthis' attacks on Saudi territory on Sunday, Oct. 18, in Manama. Their statement says aggression against one of the six affects all of them and backs Riyadh's right to defend itself, Al Jazeera reported.
The Houthis are an Iran-aligned movement that has controlled Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014. The three sources consulted do not carry their side and have ties to the Gulf: Al Jazeera, based in Qatar; Asharq Al-Awsat, which is Saudi-owned; and Kuwait Times, which cites the state news agency KUNA.
The accounts differ on one point. According to Al Jazeera, the statement asks other countries to designate the Houthis a terrorist organization. Asharq Al-Awsat only mentions "impactful international action." GCC Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi called the attacks "deliberate criminal acts," per Kuwait Times. Only Asharq Al-Awsat cites an attack on King Khalid International Airport that killed 14 civilians and wounded more than 300, with no date and no second confirmation.
On the front line, the Riyadh-led coalition said it shot down two drones. After an attack on the presidential palace in Aden, Yemen's internationally recognized government called for action from the U.N. Security Council. Casualty figures each side reports from Lahij and Taiz have not been independently confirmed.
The civilian picture is clearer. The International Organization for Migration counts more than 233 000 people displaced by the fighting, about 121 000 of them in Taiz. The World Health Organization warned that the 12 hospitals in the besieged city have fuel for four days and have run out of surgical supplies, amid a cholera outbreak. A local office monitoring the siege says food now costs five times as much.
A Houthi account and a source outside the Gulf to confirm the figures are still missing.
