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The UN Security Council has strongly demanded an immediate end to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea, adopting a resolution despite abstentions from Russia and China.
The United States and Japan have tabled the resolution, which is the ‘nub’ now, calling for “the root causes” of the situation to be addressed, “including the conflicts contributing to regional tensions”.
It also called on the Houthis to release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated vehicle carrier linked to an Israeli businessman that the group commandeered on November 19, along with its 25 crew.
“There have been 26 Houthi strikes on shipping since then, causing shipping companies to bypass the route and instead divert around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, significantly adding to journey times and cost”, The Guardian quoted US Central Command as saying.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said further attacks could prompt a Western military response. He was speaking after US and British warships on Tuesday shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by the Houthis, in what London called the largest such attack in the area
British defence secretary Grant Shapps said the UK, its western allies and Saudi Arabia were “all agreed” that the series of attacks on warships and merchant shipping in the southern Red Sea “cannot continue” and did not rule out striking Houthi military targets on land.
The Houthis, an Iran-aligned group that seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports to show support for Hamas in its war in Gaza. However, many of the targeted ships have had no links to Israel.
A Houthi spokesperson in Yemen dismissed the resolution as a “political game” and said the US was the one violating international law.
The UN earlier said it continued “to be very concerned about the situation in the Red Sea, not only because of the situation itself, and the risks that it causes to global trade”, reported The Guardian.
Without naming Iran, the Houthis’ main arms supplier, the resolution condemns all arms dealings with the rebels, which violate Security Council sanctions. It also calls for “additional practical cooperation to prevent the Houthis from acquiring the materiel necessary to carry out further attacks”, published in a report of the ET.
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