Pakistan condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, calls for immediate halt at UN

Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned continued Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including its civilian and economic infrastructure, and called for an immediate halt to the strikes while reaffirming its unwavering support for the kingdom’s security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Speaking at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) debate on the Middle East, Pakistan’s Acting Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, expressed deep concern over the rapidly deteriorating situation in Yemen.

He said Pakistan backed the UN special envoy’s efforts to revive dialogue aimed at securing a comprehensive and lasting peace in Yemen.

The ambassador strongly condemned continued Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including its civilian and economic infrastructure, and called for an immediate halt to the strikes.

“We reiterate our unwavering support for the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the brotherly Kingdom, and reaffirm its right to self-defence under international law against any external attacks,” he said.

The condemnation comes amid an escalation in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition said the Houthis had launched 20 attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month, killing 17 people and injuring 333 others. Abha airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia was also targeted amid renewed hostilities.

Yemen’s civil war reignited in July after a UN-brokered truce collapsed, months into a wider Middle East war. Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government have since claimed hundreds of strikes on Houthi-held territory. The Houthis say the attacks have killed civilians, including women and children. Reuters could not independently verify those claims.

The Saudis entered the Yemen war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition to try to force the Houthis out of ‌the Yemeni capital ⁠Sanaa. The war became a bloody stalemate, with hundreds of thousands of Yemenis killed by fighting and famine.

A 2022 ceasefire reached by the Saudis and the Houthis unravelled this summer, culminating in a lightning Houthi advance that took the Red Sea chokepoint of Bab el-Mandeb from Saudi-backed government forces.

Jadoon said that Pakistan remains committed to advancing dialogue and diplomacy in the region to help de-escalate tensions, resolve differences and promote lasting peace and stability in the region.

Turning to the Palestinian issue, the ambassador said the two-state solution remained the internationally agreed framework and an indispensable foundation for a just and lasting peace.

“This international commitment to the two-State solution must be accompanied by concrete measures to preserve the territorial integrity and viability of the State of Palestine,” he said, while expressing support for the full and good-faith implementation of relevant UN resolutions and the New York Declaration.

Read: Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of encouraging Houthis as attacks intensify

Expressing concern over Israeli actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, he said settlement expansion, particularly the E1 project, threatened to sever Palestinian territorial contiguity.

“Settler violence, demolitions, land seizures and forced displacement are entrenching annexation and dismantling the foundations of peace,” he said.

He called for an end to all settlement activities in accordance with relevant UN resolutions, a halt to settler violence and accountability for those responsible.

E1, which stands for “East 1”, is an area east of Jerusalem between East Jerusalem and the large Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. Experts have warned that the project could divide land the Palestinians hope will form part of an independent state, threatening the possibility of a two-state solution.

Jadoon also strongly condemned what he described as provocative and illegal incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif and called for respect for the historical and legal status quo of the holy sites.

He said continued ceasefire violations, the killing of Palestinians and restrictions on humanitarian access in Gaza remained a matter of grave concern.

The approaching winter threatened to worsen the suffering of families living amid widespread destruction without adequate shelter or essential services, he added.

Also Read: UK, France and Canada sanction Israeli West Bank settlements, in support for two-state solution

“The ceasefire must be fully upheld, humanitarian assistance delivered unhindered and at scale, and recovery and reconstruction advanced without delay,” he said, stressing that the indispensable work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) must be supported.

Pakistan rejected forced displacement and any attempt to fragment Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which, he said, constituted a single territorial unit.

The ambassador also called for the release of withheld Palestinian revenues to enable the Palestinian Authority to fulfil its responsibilities.

He said collective efforts must focus on a credible, time-bound and irreversible political process to end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent, sovereign, contiguous and viable State of Palestine on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

“This remains the only credible foundation for a just and lasting resolution of the Palestinian question,” he said.

“So long as the occupation continues and the Palestinian people’s legitimate yearning for self-determination goes unfulfilled, lasting peace in the Middle East will remain out of reach,” he said, reaffirming Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian people.

On Lebanon, Jadoon said full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution, respect for the cessation of hostilities and Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territory remained essential.

He said the Lebanese government’s call for the continuation of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and a sustained UN presence in the country merited serious and favourable consideration by the Security Council.

On Syria, Pakistan welcomed the government’s efforts to foster internal stability and put the country on a positive trajectory.

“We reaffirm support for Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” he said, adding that the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and Security Council resolutions 338 and 497 must be fully respected.