RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority called on soldiers in the Kingdom to be ready to lay down their lives to fight the Houthis amid escalating attacks by the Iran-backed militia. “Protecting this great nation and punishing anyone who seeks to lay a hand on even an inch of its territory are among the greatest duties and most virtuous acts of devotion, for which lives and souls may be sacrificed in seeking God’s pleasure,” Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. The rare and strongly worded message was addressed to soldiers stationed at the country’s borders with Yemen and drew heavily on Qur’anic verses and recorded sayings of the Prophet Muhammad related to sacrifice and struggle in defense of God. It comes after weeks of escalating violence between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with the Iran-backed group attacking the Kingdom with salvos of missiles and drones and Saudi Arabia responding with airstrikes. The Houthis have also seized much of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, including the strategic port city of Mokha and the coastal town of Dhubab, and moved onto key islands in and around the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The group has also seized other strategic Red Sea islands, giving it effective control of the Yemeni side of the Bab al-Mandab and the ability to threaten or disrupt shipping passing between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The development is particularly significant because Bab al-Mandab is a major maritime chokepoint linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean. Ships using the route can reach the Suez Canal and European markets without having to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. With shipping already disrupted by the war and Iran’s restrictions around Hormuz, the Houthi gains have raised further concerns over global trade and energy supplies. The recent fighting is the latest episode in 12 years of civil war in Yemen, which had largely been frozen after a UN-brokered truce in 2022 but has now escalated again and become linked to the wider Iran war. “We ask God Almighty to grant you all his support, and to protect our countries and beloved Yemen from all harm. We also ask him to bring about the complete defeat of the Houthi group and those who assist and support them,” the grand mufti's statement said. State TV has in recent weeks aired footage of an alleged Houthi strike on a mosque in the Kingdom’s south, and authorities have also accused the Houthis of launching an attack on Makkah, Islam’s holiest site. “It is incumbent upon you, brothers serving on the front lines, to remain constantly prepared to perform your duty, to obey the rulers and your field commanders, and to carry out orders with the utmost precision, as God Almighty commanded the companions of his Prophet to do,” the statement said. “You are following in the footsteps of the Prophet’s companions, defending the sacred sites of Muslims.” • With Reuters