The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution condemning the Houthi group's attacks on ships in the Red Sea and demanding the Yemeni group to immediately cease these assaults. Meanwhile, Moscow has deemed the resolution politicized.
The resolution, crafted by the United States and Japan, was approved by the council with 11 members in favor and 4 members abstaining from the vote. It calls on the Houthis to immediately halt their operations which “hinder international trade, undermine rights and freedoms of navigation, as well as peace and security in the region.”
Furthermore, the council demanded the release of the ship Galaxy Leader, linked to an Israeli businessman, and its crew, which the group had seized on November 19th, last year.
According to a reporter from Al Jazeera, the Security Council's decision emphasizes the necessity of protecting maritime navigation security.
Yahya Saree, military spokesman for the Houthis (social media sites)
"Politicized" Resolution
In the Houthis' first official response, a group spokesperson relayed to Reuters that the UN resolution concerning the security of navigation in the Red Sea is a political game and that it is America who violates international law, as he put it.
The Russian delegate to the Security Council, Vasily Nebenzia, stated that the escalation in the Gaza Strip is the main cause of the current situation in the Red Sea.
He expressed concern over the situation in the Red Sea but noted that the US and its allies are trying to impose unilateral solutions. Nebenzia regarded the Security Council's newly adopted resolution on maritime navigation security in the Red Sea as "politicized."
In solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been subject to an Israeli war with American support since the 7th of October last year, the Houthis targeted, with rockets and drones, cargo ships in the Red Sea owned or operated by Israeli companies or carrying goods to and from Israel.
The Houthi group announced on Wednesday in a statement that on Tuesday evening, they executed a joint military operation involving a large number of ballistic and naval missiles, as well as drones, which targeted an American ship providing support to the Israeli army.
Military spokesperson Yahya Saree affirmed in a statement that "the Yemeni Armed Forces will continue to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the occupied Palestinian ports from navigating the Arabian and Red Seas until the aggression stops and the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted." He also stressed the group's commitment to ensuring the continued navigation in the Red Sea to all destinations, except Israeli ports.
On December 18, 2023, the American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a maritime task force that includes several countries, among them a single Arab state, Bahrain, to address Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have pledged to continue their attacks until Israel ceases its aggression on the Gaza Strip and have warned that they will attack American warships if the group itself is targeted.
