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Saudi Arabia: No Need for New UN Resolution on Yemen

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Yemeni security forces gather outside an elderly care home after it was attacked by gunmen in the port city of Aden, Yemen, March 4, 2016.
Yemeni security forces gather outside an elderly care home after it was attacked by gunmen in the port city of Aden, Yemen, March 4, 2016.

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United Nations said Friday that there was no need for a new Security Council resolution on more humanitarian aid for Yemen.

Abdallah al-Mouallimi said a political settlement was the only solution for Yemen, where 80 percent of the civilian population is in dire need of food and medicine.

Al-Mouallimi told reporters that the U.N. envoy for Yemen agreed that a new resolution was unnecessary.

A U.N. spokesman said the council would make its own decision.

Yemeni pro-government fighters, loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, gather outside an elderly care home in Yemen's main southern city of Aden after it was attacked by gunmen, March 4, 2016.
Yemeni pro-government fighters, loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, gather outside an elderly care home in Yemen's main southern city of Aden after it was attacked by gunmen, March 4, 2016.

Council members began talking informally this week about a possible new resolution calling for a greater humanitarian push in Yemen.

The council's current president, Angolan Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins, said the situation in Yemen was "evolving toward a very drastic one ... before our eyes."

Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab coalition in launching airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in a drive to return the internationally recognized government to full power.

U.N. human rights officials say more than 3,000 people have been killed and 6,000 wounded since the airstrikes began a year ago. Civilian neighborhoods and buildings have been destroyed.

Earlier Friday, Yemeni officials said militant gunmen burst into a retirement home in Aden, killing at least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India who were working as nurses.

One witness said the gunmen tied up the elderly residents before shooting them.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but an Islamic State allied group and militant separatists have carried out previous attacks in Aden.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

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