Saudi Grand Mufti tells troops to be ready to sacrifice their lives fighting Houthis in rare speech as Kingdom rallies its allies amid fears war will cripple world's economy

Saudi Arabia's top religious authority called on soldiers in the kingdom to be ready to lay down their lives to fight the Iran-backed Houthis until the group is ousted from power.It comes as the Kingdom has rallied its allies amid growing fears the war will cripple the global economy.A rare and strongly worded message by Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan was addressed to soldiers stationed at the country's borders and drew heavily on Quranic verses and recorded sayings of the Prophet Mohammad related to sacrifice and struggle in defence of God.It comes after weeks of escalating violence between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis which has seen the Iran-backed group attack the kingdom with salvos of missiles and drones and Saudi Arabia respond with airstrikes.Observers have been questioning whether Saudi Arabia will launch a broader military operation along with Yemeni government forces it backs.'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,' said the statement, issued late Thursday.Asserting the authority of the Saudi-backed internationally recognized Yemeni government over the entire country was 'among the most pressing obligations,' it added.Those government forces lost control of the vital Bab el-Mandeb waterway to the Houthis two weeks back, a blow to the kingdom, which has been mired in the conflict since 2015 after it launched an unsuccessful operation to oust the Houthis from the Yemeni capital Sanaa. A rare and strongly worded message by Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan was addressed to soldiers stationed at the country's bordersThe recent fighting is the latest episode in 12 years of civil war in Yemen which had largely been frozen since a 2022 ceasefire but has escalated again and has 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 statement said.The Mufti's letter adds to a growing religiously centered narrative by authorities in the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom aimed at discrediting the Houthis, who follow a different sect of Islam.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 Mecca, 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.'It comes as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold an urgent, high-level meeting under a joint defense pact to discuss ways to support the kingdom amid attacks by Houthis.The Houthis said they had fired dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi targets on Thursday, while authorities in Saudi Arabia said they had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Houthi fighters.Saudi Arabia earlier had issued emergency alerts for areas including the holy city of Mecca, Jeddah and Yanbu, the main Saudi Red Sea oil port.Amid the fighting, the Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish foreign ministers met within the framework of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, according to a Saudi foreign ministry statement. They condemned the attacks targeting Mecca and other civilian sites, while affirming Saudi Arabia's right to defend itself, the statement said.'The ministers also discussed arrangements for holding an urgent meeting of the chiefs of staff of the three countries to discuss ways to support Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, which stipulates that an attack against any one of the parties constitutes an attack against all parties,' the statement said.The meeting was announced shortly after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sought to distance Iran from the Houthis in an American television interview on Thursday.'The Houthis are responsible for their own actions,' Pezeshkian told the Fox News programme Special Report with Bret Baier a day after he appeared before the UN General Assembly in New York.The Pezeshkian interview and speech took place amid a pause in fighting between the US and Iran and a brief attempt at diplomacy in New York, with Qatar serving as intermediary between the warring parties.Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on Thursday that Tehran had conveyed a proposal to the United States via intermediaries under which the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened if Tehran's conditions were met. Iran-aligned Houthi fighters move next to a destroyed vehicle following what the source described as an attack on Saudi-backed forces Houthi supporters shout slogans during an anti-Saudi rally A commercial vessel is anchored off Yemen's coast at Bab al-MandebUnder Iran's proposal, hostilities would end on all fronts, including Lebanon, within seven days. The United States would lift its blockade on Iranian ports, release Iran's frozen funds and waive its oil sanctions, he said.'The Strait of Hormuz will be reopened on the last day,' Araghchi said, adding that talks with the United States on other issues, including Iran's nuclear issue, would then start.A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday that Tehran was reviewing Washington's response to its peace proposals.Oil prices fell on Friday as markets weighed the possibility of a truce, even as the number of ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz dropped to nine on Thursday, half the ten-day average.The war, which US President Donald Trump launched alongside Israel in February, has killed thousands of people and disrupted global energy supplies.While the US and Iran have largely stood down from direct combat, Iranian allies are engaged in the region with Hezbollah confronting Israel in Lebanon and the Houthis advancing in Yemen.Iran and its allies have significantly pressured oil exports from Saudi Arabia, a US ally.The Houthis have disrupted ship traffic at the mouth of the Red Sea while Iran has effectively limited tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for 20 per cent of the world's oil exports before the start of the war. An attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also temporarily knocked Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline out of service.Security experts have debated exactly how much Iran directly influences the Houthis, a Shi'ite Islamist movement that evolved from a local insurgency into a powerful armed group controlling much of northern Yemen.However, Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources have said the Houthis' advance down Yemen's Red Sea coast was carried out with direct guidance from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.With the US-Israeli war against Iran largely stalemated for months on the battlefield, Washington has announced a shift in tactics to extend the reach of its financial sanctions by targeting companies from third countries that do business with Iranian firms, a practice known as 'secondary sanctions'.Iranian airlines were barred from neighboring countries including the UAE and Oman on Thursday in response to new US sanctions, the first big impact of a shift in US policy to target companies in third countries that do business with Iran.A flight ban, if sustained, could deepen Iran's isolation and worsen an economic crisis in the country, which is already facing a US blockade of its ports at sea.'We are living in an open-air prison,' a retired teacher in Tehran told Reuters by text message on condition her name not be used.