[🇧🇩] War Between Houthis and Saudi Arabia---------What It Means For Bangladesh.

[Saif]

Saudi defence pact countries push for peace in Tehran as Houthis launch more attacks

Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday in a bid to de-escalate the Middle East conflict, as Yemen's Houthis launched new attacks on Saudi Arabia and Egypt approved defence support for the Gulf kingdom.

en.prothomalo.com

Saudi defence pact countries push for peace in Tehran as Houthis launch more attacks

Reuters
Karachi/Cairo

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with chief of Defence Forces of Pakistan, Field Marshal Asim Munir, Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin in Tehran, Iran, 26 October 2026. Reuters

Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday in a bid to de-escalate the Middle East conflict, as Yemen's Houthis launched new attacks on Saudi Arabia and Egypt approved defence support for the Gulf kingdom.

The talks were the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations — which signed the Mecca mutual defence pact in August — since a war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran also spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said the visit was intended to open negotiating channels to "prevent the return of military escalation".

Saudi Arabia was represented by Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; Pakistan by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir; and Turkey by intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Saudi and Iranian officials said.

Iranian state media published pictures of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, attending the meetings. At the conclusion of the meetings, the four states agreed to continue talks with a view to strengthening cooperation, especially in peace and security, state media reported.

Pakistan and Qatar have led mediation efforts in the war. Qatari mediators were in Tehran on Sunday, an official told Reuters.

Earlier efforts helped produce an interim peace agreement in June but fighting between Iran and the United States soon resumed. Conflict then flared between the Iran-aligned Houthis and US ally Saudi Arabia, opening a new front.

US and Iran threaten new attacks

The wider fighting has restricted shipping through the energy chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, pushed up global oil and gas prices, left Gulf states facing missile and drone attacks, and caused a new humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have sharpened in recent days. President Donald Trump said on Friday the US may carry out another military operation against Iran. Iranian security officials told Reuters Tehran had drawn up detailed plans to attack Gulf undersea cables if the United States and Israel attack again.

The war, which earlier in the year also reignited fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia, has eroded Trump's approval ratings ahead of the USmidterm elections that decide control of Congress.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday's discussions would include "Israel’s expansionist policies, developments in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, and the repercussions of US and Israeli military action against Iran".

Baghaei said the meeting, proposed when Munir visited Tehran last week, could be a first step towards establishing regional security mechanisms. A senior Pakistani security official said the focus of Monday's meeting was to build a regional non-aggression network. The agenda also included US-Iran talks, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Hormuz and a US blockade of Iranian ports, the official said.

Another Pakistani official said Munir, with a go-ahead from Trump to try diplomacy, had presented Iran with a solution to the conflict. The current proposal would offer something to both the US and Iran, the official said, without giving details. The Mecca pact states and Qatar could act as guarantors if it was accepted, the official added.

An Iranian official had earlier said there would be no discussion of Iran's nuclear programme at Monday's meeting and the issue would not be addressed until Tehran's demands for ending the war were met. Those conditions include ending a US blockade of Iranian ports and lifting sanctions on Iranian oil exports. US Vice President JD Vance has said Iran must reduce nuclear enrichment to end the war.

Pakistan's military media office and Turkey's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Parliament approves Egyptian defence support for Saudis

Saudi Arabia has ⁠intensified strikes against the Houthis since they captured strategic areas along Yemen's Red Sea coast last month, advancing against Saudi-backed government forces. The Houthis have hit Saudi airports, ports and oil installations.

On Monday, the Houthis said they had attacked pumping stations on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline as well as Riyadh airport, which said it had resumed operations at two terminals a day earlier. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the Houthi attacks.

The parliament in Egypt, which has said it is considering joining the Mecca pact, on Monday authorised the Egyptian military to help defend Saudi Arabia, a major financial and political partner for Cairo.

The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement says signatories shall use "all necessary means" to eliminate threats to one another's territorial integrity, sovereignty or internationally recognised borders, according to a text seen by Reuters.

The pact's members held an emergency meeting in Riyadh this month and agreed to ensure the "rapid deployment" of military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia.

Efforts by Turkey’s parliament to ratify the agreement began last week and are still under way, while Pakistan approved the pact last week.​

 

[Saif]

How exposed is Bangladesh to a prolonged Saudi crisis?

Bangladesh is unlikely to see an immediate fall in remittances from Saudi Arabia even as Houthi attacks on the kingdom intensified from early October, but a slowdown in new migration could weigh on inflows in the years ahead.

www.thedailystar.net

How exposed is Bangladesh to a prolonged Saudi crisis?

Ahsan Habib

Bangladesh is unlikely to see an immediate fall in remittances from Saudi Arabia even as Houthi attacks on the kingdom intensified from early October, but a slowdown in new migration could weigh on inflows in the years ahead.

Following the attacks, migration to Saudi Arabia, the largest destination for Bangladeshi workers, has already been disrupted. As of Sunday, 144 direct and transit flights had been affected by prolonged flight restrictions at Saudi airports, disrupting the travel plans of around 22,000 passengers.

But economists and manpower experts say remittance inflows are unlikely to be hit immediately because newly arrived migrant workers typically take about a year to start sending significant amounts of money home.

According to them, the longer-term impact will depend on the duration of the crisis, the performance of the Saudi economy and demand for labour, particularly in construction.

A prolonged crisis that damages the Saudi economy could slow job creation and reduce workers’ incomes. But the outcome is not necessarily negative for the kingdom’s economy.

If Houthi missile and drone attacks continue without damaging oilfields and refineries, higher global oil prices could boost Saudi revenues, potentially supporting investment and demand for foreign workers, according to Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office.

“But everything is uncertain so far,” he commented.

Remittances are a major source of foreign currency for Bangladesh, accounting for around 7.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to World Bank data. Their importance has grown amid volatility in global energy markets following the US-Israel’s war on Iran, which has sent shockwaves through sectors ranging from agriculture to the garment industry.

In the July-September quarter of the current fiscal year, Saudi Arabia remained Bangladesh’s largest source of remittances. Inflows from the kingdom rose to $1.65 billion, up from $1.23 billion in the same period of FY26, according to Bangladesh Bank data.

The kingdom accounted for 19.20 percent of Bangladesh’s total remittance inflows in the first quarter of FY27, compared with 16.26 percent a year earlier.

During the July-September quarter, overall remittances reached around $8.59 billion, with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries continuing to account for the bulk of transfers.

DIVERSIFYING OVERSEAS JOBS IS BECOMING URGENT

The latest disruption shows Bangladesh’s heavy reliance on a handful of overseas labour markets, leaving migrant workers and the economy exposed to regional crises.

Since FY2014-15, Saudi Arabia has employed around half of the 96 lakh Bangladeshis who went abroad for work. Workers in the kingdom have sent home an average of $5 billion a year.

The pressure on migration is already evident. Overseas employment fell 36 percent year-on-year to 134,000 in the July-August period this year, following a decline to around 969,000 workers in FY26, the lowest level in five years, according to Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training data.

Tasneem Siddiqui, executive director of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), a local think tank, said the crisis exposed the structural weaknesses of the country’s migration sector.

“Therefore, rather than relying on piecemeal decisions, we must completely overhaul and diversify the manpower market. Otherwise, one crisis after another will emerge, leaving us perpetually vulnerable,” said Tasneem, also a political science professor at Dhaka University.

She said the government needs a long-term strategy to develop skills suited to specific overseas markets and expand employment opportunities beyond traditional destinations.

“Long-term strategic planning is essential. Particularly, allocating a mere 0.08 percent of the budget for a $35 billion remittance sector is grossly insufficient to accomplish meaningful interventions,” she said.

Meanwhile, economist Zahid said Bangladesh should target countries facing ageing populations and labour shortages, including Japan and countries in eastern Europe, where demand for workers in nursing, caregiving and manufacturing could offer alternatives to Middle Eastern markets.

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Sayema Haque Bidisha, an economics professor at Dhaka University, also called for greater diversification of migration destinations, stronger diplomatic engagement and better support for expatriates through overseas missions.

She said Bangladesh needs to improve its international image by demonstrating that its workers can fill skilled jobs, rather than being seen primarily as a source of manual labour.

Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC’s Migration Programme and Youth Platform, said earlier this month that many Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia depend on daily or weekly employment and that security concerns have reduced work opportunities.

PAKISTAN FACES GREATER EXPOSURE THAN INDIA

Bangladesh is not the only country with a significant reliance on remittances from Saudi Arabia.

Its neighbour India and Pakistan also depend on money sent home by their citizens working in the kingdom, although the potential impact varies.

Saudi Arabia is Pakistan’s largest source of remittances, contributing $9.78 billion in the last fiscal year, according to State Bank of Pakistan data.

Meanwhile, around 7 percent of India’s international remittance inflows originate from Saudi Arabia. The country receives about $8 billion annually from the kingdom, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

A prolonged crisis that affects employment and earnings in Saudi Arabia could therefore have a greater impact on Pakistan than on India, given Pakistan’s substantial reliance on the kingdom as a source of remittances.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.newagebd.net/post/middle-east/320032/saudi-strikes-kill-14-as-houthis-target-aden

Saudi strikes kill 14 as Houthis target Aden

Agence France-Presse . Aden, Yemen

Yemen’s Houthis said Saudi strikes on a petrol station and a market killed more than a dozen people on Wednesday, while the Iran-backed group targeted the perimeter of the airport in government stronghold Aden.

The Houthis last month launched a lightning offensive in Yemen, reigniting a long frozen civil war against the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government there.

They have also launched sustained attacks on Saudi Arabia itself, the world’s biggest crude exporter, rattling global markets already volatile from the wider Middle East war.

On Wednesday, Houthi broadcaster Almasirah reported 14 dead ‘and 15 wounded, including women and children in a preliminary toll,’ in attacks it blamed on Saudi Arabia in the northwestern Jawf province, where it reported strikes on a market and a petrol station.

In Aden, a Houthi missile fell inside the perimeter of the airport shortly before the group issued a call to evacuate the area, a local police source said. The group targeted the airport again later, another police source said.

‘Our armed forces call on those present at Aden airport to immediately evacuate due to the presence of a military cargo plane belonging to the Saudi enemy transporting weapons to kill the sons of the Yemeni people,’ Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Telegram.

The first strike happened while a Saudi military aircraft was at the airport, but the plane ‘was not hit and took off shortly afterward,’ the first police source said.

The second attack targeted an area ‘under Saudi forces’ control inside the perimeter of Aden airport,’ the second Aden police official said.

The Houthis have targeted Aden several times in recent weeks.

They have also intensified attacks on their Saudi foe, while they battle the government it backs in Aden, shifting the focus of the Middle East war that erupted with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.

On Saturday, a police source said that the Houthis targeted a Saudi coalition military position near the Aden airport. It was also targeted the previous week.

Two missiles also landed within the airport perimeter earlier this month, a day after a deadly missile attack struck the presidential palace in Aden.

In July, a fragile 2022 truce fell apart after the Houthis allowed an Iranian plane to land in Yemen’s capital Sanaa in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace, setting off a spate of attacks.

Later, the Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, territory and oil facilities, before seizing Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast in a lightning campaign.

Meanwhile, the Houthis have reported frequent Saudi airstrikes.​