The United Nations Security Council holds a meeting on the situation in Yemen, at the UN headquarters in New York June 17, 2019. The Security Council on Monday condemned Houthi rebels in Yemen for the misappropriation of humanitarian aid as well as their attack on a civilian airport in Saudi Arabia. UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock told the meeting that about 500,000 people will die by 2022 if the war continues in Yemen. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Monday condemned Houthi rebels in Yemen for the misappropriation of humanitarian aid as well as their attack on a civilian airport in Saudi Arabia.
"The members of the Security Council condemned the misappropriation of humanitarian assistance and aid by the Houthis," said Kuwaiti UN ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, whose country holds the Security Council presidency for the month of June.
The council members reiterated their call for the rapid, safe and unhindered flow of commercial and humanitarian supplies and personnel into and across the country, he told reporters after closed-door consultations of the council.
In a briefing to the Security Council prior to the closed-door consultations, head of the World Food Programme David Beasley gave multiple examples of misappropriation in Houthi-controlled areas.
The members of the Security Council also condemned "in the strongest terms" the attack by the Houthis on Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia on June 12, which resulted in 26 people injured, said the Kuwaiti ambassador.
The council members reaffirmed that this attack and the threat of further attacks against Saudi Arabia and the wider region constitute a violation of international law and a threat to international peace and security. They also reminded all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law, said the ambassador.
The council members underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts accountable, he said.
The council members reiterated that there can only be a political solution to the conflict in Yemen and expressed their full support for Martin Griffiths, the UN secretary-general's special envoy for Yemen, whom the Yemeni authorities last month accused of bias in favor of the Houthis.
The council members called on all parties to engage in good faith with the UN-led process to make progress toward a comprehensive political settlement, said the Kuwaiti ambassador.
Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that has been intervening in Yemen's civil war since 2015. The coalition is fighting Houthi rebels in a bid to restore the exiled Yemeni government.
