United Nations, 26 Shawwal,1439 AH, 10 July,2018 , SPA -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has confirmed that the recruitment of children by Iranian backed Houthi militias in Yemen and involving them in battlefields are a blatant disregard of international laws and humanitarian norms, calling on the UN Security Council to condemn these actions and those who support these militias that seek to promote their sectarian agenda and darkness thought . This came in the Kingdom's address at the Security Council on the open debate on "Children and Armed Conflict", delivered by the permanent representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah bin Yahya Al-Mouallimi. He said, "We appreciate your initiative of submitting resolution No. 2427 on a comprehensive framework for the protection of children from the impact of the military conflict and we hope that the resolution will support the work of the Child Protection Group in armed conflict. We would have hoped that the resolution called on the United Nations system for children and armed conflict to investigate the accuracy of its figures and statistics and not to rely on unreliable or unilateral sources. We would also hope that the resolution includes the call to the Children's Unit and armed conflict to check accuracy in collecting data and facts and not rely on non-trusted sources." He explained that the record of the Kingdom and its partners in the Coalition for Supporting the legitimacy in Yemen is bright and honorable, adding that today the operation of liberating Hodeidah proves that the Coalition exercises utmost restraint and abides by all international norms, charters and international laws; and over the past months, the Coalition continued to cooperate with the United Nations which resulted in the modernization and development of the rules of engagement, the identification of thousands of prohibited sites, including schools and hospitals, the gatherings of civilians, infrastructure elements and the establishment of a special child protection unit in the coalition, in addition to taking many armed children who were found carrying arms and returning them through Yemeni authorities to their families, noting that the programs of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center have become models for the care and rehabilitation of children, adding that the Center will work with the United Nations to transfer and benefit from its experience in many locations in the world. Ambassador Al-Mouallimi stressed that the actions of Houthi militias supported by Iran in Yemen, recruiting and involving children in battlefields, using them as human shields and firing missiles from platforms installed in civilian neighborhoods, all constitute a blatant disregard of international laws and humanitarian norms. He called on the Council to condemn these actions in the strongest terms and condemn those who support these militias, which are still procrastinating in the implementation of international resolutions, these parties which are working to export corrupt ideologies and seeks to promote their sectarian agenda. Ambassador Al-Mouallimi also affirmed that the Palestinian people still face in their land the worst kinds of occupation, and the citizens of Gaza are specifically under an unjust siege that extends over more than ten years, adding that it is painful that this behavior coincides with the behavior of the Syrian authorities in Deraa against children. -- SPA 13:25 LOCAL TIME 10:25 GMT 0010 www.spa.gov.sa/w714802