UN Condemns Houthi Strikes on Riyadh Airport
Presidential statement S/PRST/2026/4 condemns Houthi strikes on airports and Saudi Aramco facilities, affirms Saudi Arabia's right to self-defense and recalls two earlier condemnations.
The 15-member United Nations Security Council adopted a presidential statement on Thursday, October 15, calling the Houthi strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh “reckless.” The document is numbered S/PRST/2026/4. According to a UN statement, the strikes of October 10 and 11 killed 13 people and wounded more than 300.
What the Security Council statement says
Besides the Riyadh airport, the Council condemns multiple strikes on other airports in Saudi Arabia and on facilities of Saudi Aramco. Members expressed condolences to the families of the victims, the government and the people of that country, along with solidarity “over attacks on civilians and civilian objects on its territory.”
The Council also explicitly affirms “the inalienable right of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to self-defense in accordance with international law.” Iran is not mentioned in the statement.
The condemnation extends to the sea. Members reiterate their strongest condemnation of Houthi attacks and threats against merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb strait, and recall the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and freedom of navigation.
States are asked to fully implement Resolution 2216 of 2015. In practice, that means cooperating, including with the government of Yemen, to keep the Houthis from obtaining weapons, technical assistance, training and money. All member states must respect the targeted arms embargo.
The statement closes with the Council’s message that “sustainable peace in Yemen cannot be achieved through violence, coercion or the use of force,” and repeats its support for UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg in seeking a political solution led and owned by Yemenis themselves.
Is this the first joint condemnation of the Houthis?
No. The statement itself refers to two earlier press statements: the one of August 7 (SC/16429) and the one of September 18 (SC/16458). In both, the Council condemned the Houthis’ military escalation in Yemen in the strongest terms and demanded that they immediately stop attacks hitting civilians and civilian objects.
What is new is the type of document: a presidential statement is a weightier act than a press statement. The reliance on the specific strikes of October 10 and 11 is also new. We reported on the attacks themselves on October 13, when the Houthis said they had targeted Riyadh.
According to Middle East Eye, the statement was presented to the public by the Council’s president, Greece’s Evangelos Sekeris. The same day in Riyadh, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman spoke with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, and both condemned the Houthi attacks on the Kingdom.
The figures differ in scope
The UN and the AFP news agency cite 13 dead and more than 300 wounded in the strikes on the airport over the past weekend. The spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Turki al-Maliki, gave a different total on Thursday: the Houthis attacked the Riyadh airport 20 times this month, killing 17 and wounding 333 people. By his account, the Houthis tried to attack dozens of such facilities.
Al-Maliki also claims that the Houthis obtained advanced military technology with the help of “regional actors”: ballistic missiles, drones and speedboats packed with explosives. Iran is not named in that claim. Middle East Eye and Khaleej Times describe the Houthis as allies of Iran and the conflict with Saudi Arabia as a consequence of a wider regional war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
Aden and Medina on the same day
On Thursday, according to Khaleej Times, the Houthis fired missiles at the al-Mashiq presidential palace complex in Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized Yemeni government backed by Saudi Arabia. Two guards were killed. It was the first attack on that palace in the current conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.
The coalition, according to the same source, reported intercepting a missile in the area of Medina, one of the holiest cities in Islam. The Houthis, who have said many times that they will spare Islamic holy sites, denied being behind that attack.
