Gulf states hold emergency military meeting in Riyadh amid Houthi attacks

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states held an extraordinary meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday to discuss closer cooperation and coordination between their armed forces, as Yemen’s Houthis keep up attacks on Saudi Arabia, The Express Tribune reported, citing Anadolu Agency.

The meeting was held by the GCC Armed Forces Operations and Training Committee at the headquarters of the GCC General Secretariat, according to a statement from the UAE Defence Ministry. The ministry did not name the participants.

The GCC, a regional political and security bloc, is made up of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

What was on the table

The ministry said the meeting discussed “several issues aimed at strengthening joint military cooperation in operations and training”, as well as “developing coordination and integration mechanisms” between Gulf armed forces.

The talks were also meant to “support joint Gulf defence efforts and enhance military readiness and efficiency in the fields of operations and training”, it said.

The statement did not set out any decisions, and did not directly mention the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. The GCC itself has not issued a statement on the meeting.

A call for international action

On Sunday, at the end of a ministerial meeting in Manama, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi called for “effective” international action against the Houthi group.

The Houthis have recently attacked Riyadh’s international airport and the state oil company Saudi Aramco. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it intercepted ballistic missiles aimed at the capital, and the group has imposed a naval blockade on the kingdom, hitting its tankers, Middle East Eye has reported.

Outside help for Riyadh

The Gulf meeting comes as other countries step in:

• Britain has sent RAF Typhoons on defensive missions over Saudi Arabia.
• Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said on Wednesday that Egypt would help defend Saudi territory but would not attack Yemen. Egypt’s parliament is due to vote on authorising the deployment on October 26.
• Turkey’s ruling party says parliament will get a mandate to send military personnel to Saudi Arabia in defensive roles under the Makkah pact.
• Pakistan has pledged to defend the kingdom under the Makkah defence pact, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.

How Yemen got here

Yemen’s conflict began when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and several provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to back the government.

A truce that began in April 2022 brought a period of relative calm. Fighting between coalition-backed government forces and the Houthis has escalated since July, and the truce collapsed in September.

The human cost is rising. More than 250,000 people were displaced inside Yemen between August 1 and October 17, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni government and the United States accuse Iran of backing the Houthis, which Tehran denies.

Wednesday’s meeting suggests Gulf militaries are working to coordinate more closely, though none of the six members has said publicly what, if anything, was agreed.