UN Security Council demands halt to Houthi attacks on ships in Red Sea
The United Nations Security Council has demanded an immediate halt to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea. The resolution, sponsored by the United States and Japan, was approved by a vote of 11-0 with four abstentions – Russia, China, Algeria, and Mozambique.
The resolution condemns the attacks carried out by the Houthis on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, which it says impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security. It demands that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks.
The resolution also demands the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company that it seized on Nov. 19 along with its crew.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government since 2014. They have claimed that they launched the attacks with the aim of ending Israel’s air-and-ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
A U.S.-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea to try to prevent the attacks. In response to a significant barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea by the Houthis, the U.S. and British navies shot down the attacks in a major naval engagement.
The defeated amendments proposed by Russia said the resolution would not set a precedent and would have added language reflecting that the escalation in the Gaza Strip is a main root cause of the current situation in the Red Sea, which was condemned by the U.S. Ambassador as being “divorced from reality.”
The resolution also condemns all arms dealings with the rebels, which violate Security Council sanctions and calls for “additional practical cooperation to prevent the Houthis from acquiring the materiel necessary to carry out further attacks.”
The conflicts in the Red Sea and the broader region are a cause for concern, and the resolution recognizes the need to avoid escalating the situation. It “urges caution and restraint to avoid further escalation of the situation in the Red Sea and the broader region.” And it “encourages enhanced diplomatic efforts by all parties to that end, including continued support for dialogue and Yemen’s peace process under the U.N. auspices.”