Not long after it was reported that GCC Ministers had invited representatives from the Houthi militia to Riyadh to participate in talks, the Houthis conducted a military exercise involving “thousands of Shi’ite Muslim Houthi fighters” near Saudi Arabia’s border, according to reports.
“The drill in the al-Buqa region in the Houthis’ home province of Saada included heavy weapons acquired from the Yemeni army,” local tribal and Houthi sources told Reuters. It follows a day of violence across Yemen, Reuters reports, as regional and international leaders worry about further destabilization in the country.
GCC Secretary General Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani (SPA)
GCC Ministers and other representatives at the 134th GCC Ministerial Council meeting are focused on the security situation in Yemen as the situation worsens there.
“It’s their business to accept [the invitation] or not,” said Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiya, who currently holds the GCC’s rotating presidency. But al-Attiya also said that anyone joining the negotiations must accept ousted President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s conditions for the talks, according to Al Arabiya. “These include rejecting ‘the coup d’etat’ by the Houthis, returning seized military equipment and allowing the state ‘to recover its authority over all territory,’ Hadi said in a letter to Saudi King Salman.”
GCC nations conduct joint naval exercises this week.
For their part, the GCC states held their own joint naval military exercise in the Arabian Gulf this week. Photos published by the SPA show GCC naval craft participating in a 10-day exercise, named Union 17, as part of annual joint exercises between the GCC member states “conducted in order to raise the level of combat efficiency and the spirit of mutual cooperation,” the Emirates WAM press agency said.
