Saudi Arabia has claimed this Thursday before the UN Security Council that the support that "allows" the Houthi rebels to maintain their attacks both in Yemeni territory and outside its borders must be stopped, in a context of increasing military escalation and coinciding with the insurgency's takeover of the strategic city of Mocha, on the western coast and the closest to the Bab el Mandeb strait.
"The international community cannot call for de-escalation and, at the same time, allow the flow of support that enables this militia to persist in its hostile and criminal behavior," declared its representative to the United Nations, Abdulaziz al Wasil, during an emergency meeting of the Council.
In the same vein, the Saudi ambassador has urged to put an end to "all forms of support that facilitate" the offensives of the Houthis and their threats against "regional security, as well as international navigation and trade."
Al Wasil has also demanded that the group of 15 countries that make up the Security Council convey a clear message "that attacks against the Kingdom (Saudi) must cease, military escalation in Yemen must stop, and threats to international navigation must end."
On the other hand, he emphasized that from Riyadh "we will not hesitate to take all necessary measures to deter Houthi attacks and protect our security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, in accordance with the United Nations Charter and International Law."
These statements constitute the first public declarations of a senior Saudi official following the conquest of the town of Mocha by the Houthis, after taking Hays and Al Joja, in the province of Hodeida, taking advantage of the withdrawal of government forces, backed by Riyadh.
The rebels have assured that these military operations have a "limited" and "defensive" nature and that they will end as soon as the blockade on Yemen is lifted, in the words of their spokesman Mohamed Abdul Salam in statements to the SABA news agency.
The control of this city by the Houthis would represent a tough blow for the internationally recognized Government and would strengthen the insurgents' ability to interfere with maritime traffic through Bab el Mandeb, a passage whose relevance has increased following the impacts on transit in the Strait of Hormuz due to the offensive launched on February 28 by the United States and Israel against Iran.
The Houthis launched an offensive last week on the Red Sea coast and in the vicinity of the strategic passage of Bab el Mandeb, to which the international forces led by Riyadh responded with a bombing campaign in support of the government troops, who in January consolidated their dominance in several areas of the south of the country after the dissolution of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), following internal clashes.
The current scenario threatens to provoke the definitive collapse of the truce reached in 2022, after years of war and despite the mediation efforts of the United Nations to close a peace agreement that ends the conflict that began in 2014, which has plunged Yemen into one of the most serious crises at the international level.