AL-MUKALLA, Yemen: The US military has destroyed a number of Houthi drones, remote-controlled boats and ballistic missiles aimed at ships in international commercial channels.
US Central Command said in a statement Tuesday morning Yemen time that its forces destroyed three drones fired by the Houthis from Yemen over the Gulf of Aden, as well as another drone destroyed in Houthi-controlled Yemeni territory. The US military also destroyed one unmanned boat, a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis in the Red Sea before they could reach their intended targets on a critical sea route.
“These weapons posed a clear and imminent threat to US and coalition forces and merchant shipping in the region.” This reckless and dangerous behavior by the Iran-backed Houthis continues to threaten regional stability and security,” US Central Command said in a statement.
In Sana'a on Tuesday, the Houthis did not claim credit for new attacks on ships in the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden, as they regularly do hours or days after they attack ships. On Saturday, the Houthis resumed a two-week hiatus in their anti-ship campaign by firing missiles at a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden. According to the Joint Maritime Information Center, the Liberian-flagged cargo ship Groton was hit by two missile attacks on Saturday afternoon while traveling east of Aden, a port city in southern Yemen.
In a statement issued by the militia's military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, the Houthis claimed the Groton was targeted because the ship's parent company violated their ban on sailing to Israeli ports.
Houthi attacks on ships have been halted since July 20, when Israeli aircraft struck an oil storage facility and other targets in Hodeidah, a city in Houthi-controlled western Yemen. Despite their frequent threats to retaliate for Israeli bombings, the Houthis have not claimed any further attacks on Israel or its ships in the past two weeks.
Since November, the Houthis have seized a commercial ship, sunk two others and launched dozens of missile, drone and drone attacks on commercial and naval vessels in international shipping lanes off Yemen, claiming they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israel. war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Rashad Al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's presidential leadership council, said on Monday that his government had reversed its tough economic actions against banks in Sanaa to support “the interests of the people”.
In a surprise move that sparked outrage in Yemen, the Yemeni government agreed to a UN-brokered deal with the Houthis to lift sanctions on banks in Sana'a and allow Yemenia Airways, the country's national airline, to increase the number of flights from the Houthi-controlled airport in Sana'a. to Jordan, Egypt and India, reversing previous tough commitments to punish banks in Sana'a that refuse to move their headquarters to government-controlled Aden, the interim capital.
“We are in an economic struggle and the presidential leadership council decided with full conviction that these decisions may have to be reversed to put the interests of the Yemeni people ahead of all other interests,” Al-Alimi said in an interview with state-run Hadhramaut.
The Yemeni leader also said his government had accepted a UN-brokered peace plan, known as a roadmap, to end the war in Yemen and praised the Saudi-led coalition for restoring legitimacy in Yemen for helping the Yemeni government and allied forces in Yemen. liberating Yemeni regions from the Houthis.
“We agreed to the plan and now the ball is in the court of the Houthis who continue to defy peace,” he said, adding: “If it wasn't for Operation Decisive Storm and Yemen's resistance and casualties, the militia would have taken over all of Yemen.”
