Saudi Arabia has denied a report by the US-based Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that Yemen’s Houthis had demanded $51 billion from kingdom in return for a “negotiated halt” to the ongoing hostilities between the two sides.

A report by the Journal claimed on Thursday that the kingdom had approached the Houthis “to see what it would take to arrive at a negotiated halt to the hostilities”, and the group demanded $51bn in return. The report, citing unnamed sources, further claimed that the Houthis would want to be “officially recognised … as the rulers of Yemen”.

But Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Ambassador Rayed Krimly “categorically” denied the claims about “demands made by this militia”.

“All of this is pure fabrication by the writers or their alleged sources,” he said in a post on X.

The Saudi official further stated that “these militias turned against the Yemeni government, caused famine among the Yemeni people, and dragged Yemen into conflicts and agendas that do not serve Yemen and its people”.

“They attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea waterways, civilian and economic targets, and rejected all peace efforts. We also remind the writers that Yemen has a recognised government,” he said.

The WSJ report and the Saudi denial has come amid renewed hostilities between Riyadh and the Houthis, linked to the larger Middle East conflict.

The Middle East war erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, prompting Tehran to retaliate with strikes across the region. Then in July, the Houthis triggered a return to hostilities in Yemen when they let an Iranian plane land in defiance of Saudi control of Yemeni airspace.

The government retaliated by striking the airport, with ensuing exchanges unravelling a 2022 truce in Yemen’s long-running civil war. Since then, the Houthis have declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, attacking its tankers in the Red Sea, as well as the Saudi territory.