RIYADH, October 21, 2026 — Gulf defence officials convened an extraordinary meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday to forge closer coordination among their armed forces as Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia continue to escalate, the United Arab Emirates defence ministry said.
The session was called by the Gulf Cooperation Council’s Armed Forces Operations and Training Committee and held at the headquarters of the GCC General Secretariat in the Saudi capital, according to a statement carried by the UAE defence ministry.
Rare extraordinary session
Discussions focused on strengthening joint military cooperation in operations and training, and on developing coordination and integration mechanisms among the Gulf states’ armed forces, the ministry said. The talks also aimed to bolster joint Gulf defence efforts and improve military readiness and efficiency.
Officials did not disclose the participants or any decisions reached, and the GCC has not yet issued its own statement on the meeting, TRT World reported. The six-member council comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
Calls for decisive international action
The emergency session comes amid intensifying Houthi attacks on the Kingdom and growing regional and international efforts to halt them. Earlier this week, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi called for “effective” international action against the Houthis following a ministerial meeting in Manama, according to reports.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia and the UAE called for stronger coordination among Gulf nations to contain escalating regional tensions. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, condemned attacks by the Yemeni militia against civilian sites in Saudi Arabia and stressed the need for closer consultations and joint diplomatic efforts, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The ministers reiterated that an attack against any single GCC member constitutes a threat to all, invoking the organisation’s joint-defence agreement as they backed Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself.
Escalating backdrop
Saudi Arabia has come under sustained attack from the Houthis this month. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh on Tuesday morning, with blasts heard across the capital, and later said it destroyed the launch platform used in the attack.
On Wednesday, the coalition said it intercepted five drones launched toward the Kingdom in the Medina and Eastern regions, while the Houthis denied carrying out any launches. Meanwhile, Britain announced it would fly RAF Typhoons on defensive missions over Saudi Arabia, and Egypt’s parliament is weighing military support for the Kingdom under emergency session.
The GCC’s joint-defence pledge was first formalised at a Manama ministerial meeting earlier this week, when the council condemned what it called the repeated attacks against Saudi Arabia and reaffirmed solidarity with the Kingdom, state media reported.
