Statement on the escalation in Yemen and the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia
11 October 2026
The Socialist International is following with deep concern the escalation of hostilities by the Iran-backed Houthi militias against the Yemeni people, including the siege of cities and ballistic missile attacks, which has shattered the relative calm that followed the 2022 truce.
We strongly condemn the Houthi missile and drone attacks on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia, including Abha and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which killed three people and injured dozens of others. Deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure is a grave violation of international humanitarian law. We extend our condolences to the families of those killed and wish a full recovery to the injured.
The Houthi militias have used the period of relative calm to rearm, to draw further foreign involvement into the conflict and to threaten maritime security in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Their actions around the Bab al-Mandab Strait and against neighbouring countries endanger civilians, international shipping, and regional and global peace and security.
The Socialist International, the worldwide organisation of social democratic, socialist and labour parties, condemns this aggression. We express our solidarity with the Yemeni people, and in particular with the hundreds of thousands who have been killed or injured, the millions displaced at home and abroad, and the millions living in poverty and hunger.
We stand with our member party, the Yemeni Socialist Party, and its partners in the national bloc of parties supporting the legitimate government.
We call on all states in the region and beyond to respect the unity, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen. We also call on them to support the Yemeni state in responding to the attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, and in relieving severe humanitarian suffering. This support is essential to end the Houthi rebellion, restore the state’s authority over all its territory and establish its monopoly on arms. It is also essential to achieving a just and comprehensive peace, founded on social justice and equal citizenship for all, without discrimination of any kind.
Long live a free, independent and secure Yemen.
