Fighters loyal to the Houthis shout slogans during a rally to recruit more fighters, in Sanaa on Sept. 10, 2026. (Credit: Mohammed Huwais/AFP)
The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemeni Houthi fighters in a rare show of unity from the U.N.'s top body.
The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers, controlling swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coast vital for oil exports and causing energy prices to jump, while also launching missiles onto its foe.
The fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces is also threatening a humanitarian crisis, with 138,000 people displaced across Yemen since August, with 70,000 children among them, according to the U.N. That is the highest level of displacement since a 2022 truce.
"The members of the Security Council condemned, in the strongest terms, continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children," said the rotating president of the council, French U.N. envoy Jerome Bonnafont, delivering a joint statement.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan — which signed a joint defense agreement last month — will hold chief of staff talks to support the kingdom, Riyadh said in a statement on Friday, raising the prospect of a joint response to Houthi attacks.
Deepening humanitarian crisis
The council stressed the importance of upholding international law and freedom of navigation.
The body also "demanded the Houthis immediately cease their military escalation and their attacks impacting civilians and civilian objects," according to the statement.
Houthi gains in recent weeks cemented the hold of Iran and its allies on the two waterways that the wider Gulf, including top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, relies on to ship out oil and other fuel products. The other key waterway is the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.N. refugee agency chief, Barham Salih, warned Friday that "the latest escalation is also very disconcerting."
"[In] Yemen's deepening humanitarian crisis, where civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict, tens of thousands of people have already been displaced by the recent escalation and hostilities, with thousands fleeing the conflict, looking for safety in Djibouti and elsewhere," he said.
"More crossings are reported to be underway."
Over 3,500 people have made the dangerous journey across the water to the east African nation of Djibouti, the International Organization of Migration said.
The Security Council statement called for "full, safe, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian access to all civilians in need."
More than 2.2 million children under five across Yemen were acutely malnourished, the U.N. says, with over half a million suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form.
