Yemen: Nine killed in strike on Saada – Gulf states rally behind Riyadh
The Houthis say five children died in a strike they blame on Saudi Arabia. The Gulf Cooperation Council condemns attacks on the kingdom, while Egypt postpones a vote on military aid.
Symbolic image · Photo: Julien Harneis from Sana'a, Yemen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
A strike in the Sahar district of Yemen's northern Saada province killed at least nine people, including five children and two women, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said; 19 were wounded. Houthi spokesperson Anees al-Asbahi blamed Saudi Arabia, which did not immediately comment. In the Saudi border city of Najran, a projectile injured six people, and a Saudi helicopter crashed in the southwest – due to a technical malfunction, according to the coalition, while the Houthis claimed to have shot it down.
Meeting in Bahrain, the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the continuing Houthi attacks. Secretary-General Jasem AlBudaiwi called them 'deliberate criminal behavior' that requires 'a firm response from the international community'. Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said: 'Any attack on a GCC member state is an attack on all GCC states.'
In Egypt, parliament postponed a vote on President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's request to authorise military support for Saudi Arabia, with deliberations set to resume on Monday. Houthi parliament speaker Yehia Ali al-Rai warned Cairo that this path posed 'a grave danger' to its own national security.