Saudi Arabia urges ‘maximum restraint’ after Israel strikes Yemen
Attack ‘aggravates current tension in region and halts ongoing efforts to end Gaza war’
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia urged restraint on Sunday in the wake of an Israeli strike that the Houthi militants said killed 6 people.
The Israeli attack which hit the Houthi-controlled city of Hodeida, “aggravates the current tension in the region and halts the ongoing efforts to end the war in Gaza,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.
It “called on all parties to exercise maximum restrain and to distance the region and its people from the dangers of war.”
Saudi Arabia mobilised an international military coalition against the Houthis in 2015, although a truce has largely held for the past two years.
Efforts by the kingdom to broker a Yemen peace deal have faltered in the wake of an anti-shipping campaign by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The militants have targeted nearly 90 ships since November which they say is to signal their solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Saudi Arabia has not joined a US-led naval coalition to deter Houthi attacks or participated in strikes on Yemen carried out by the US and Britain since January.
Sunday’s foreign ministry statement affirmed the kingdom’s “continuous support for peace efforts in Yemen to spare its people more suffering.”