UN Security Council imposes arms embargo on Yemen's Houthis

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday.

The council agreed to expand a targeted UN arms embargo on several Houthi leaders to the whole group, a move pushed by the UAE after the Houthis claimed several drone and missile assaults on the UAE and Saudi Arabia this year.

It received 11 votes in favour, while the remaining four council members - Ireland, Mexico, Brazil and Norway - abstained. Russia voted in favour after abstaining on the council vote a year ago to renew UN sanctions on Yemen.

A Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis for seven years in a conflict largely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The war has killed tens of thousands of people and caused a dire humanitarian crisis.

The coalition, the United States and UN sanctions monitors have accused Iran of supplying the Houthis with arms, which both Tehran and the group deny.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from the capital Sanaa. The group says it is fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, criticised the decision for ignoring "crimes" by the coalition and said in a Twitter post that any arms embargo that does not apply to the Western-backed alliance "had no value."