ADEN: Yemeni Prime Minister Shaya Zindani said on Sunday that the Houthi group’s continued targeting of commercial ships and threatening the security of the Red Sea and international shipping lanes “reaffirms that it is implementing Iran’s agenda to destabilize the region and undermine international maritime security.”
Zindani added in a post on X that these practices “are not only paid for by Yemenis, but their repercussions extend to the region and the world, by threatening freedom of navigation, supply chains and international trade, and undermining UN, regional and international efforts aimed at establishing peace and stability.”
He stressed that “protecting freedom of navigation and the security of maritime routes is a collective responsibility,” and called on the international community to “take a more firm and deterrent stance towards Houthi terrorist behavior, dry up its sources of support and prevent it from continuing to threaten regional and international interests.”
He said his government “will continue to work in close coordination with the Coalition to Support Legitimacy, led by our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its partners in the international community, to confront these threats, protect the security of navigation, and support efforts to consolidate security and stability, restore state institutions, and preserve the sovereignty of Yemen.”
The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, said earlier on Saturday that his government is committed to working closely with the Coalition to Support Legitimacy and its partners in the international community in order to “firmly deter threats,” “protect waterways,” and “combat terrorism, smuggling and organized crime,” considering that “the Houthis have no option but to respond to the will of the Yemeni people.”
Al-Alimi added in a post on X that the Houthis and their supporters insist “every time an opportunity for de-escalation arises, on gambling with the interests of the Yemeni people and plunging the country into successive crises in service of the Iranian regime’s agendas, ignoring the will of the Yemenis.”
Al-Alimi stressed that the Houthis “must realize that they have no option but to respond to the will of the Yemeni people, and that their continued escalation is nothing but a waste of time and a drain on what remains of the country’s resources, without changing the conviction of the Yemenis and their adherence to the goal of ending the coup and extending the state’s authority over the entire national territory.”
The coalition supporting legitimacy in Yemen announced on Saturday that it had carried out a military response against “legitimate military targets” belonging to the Houthi group in Hodeidah province, in response to the targeting of commercial ships in the Red Sea, and stressed that the port of Hodeidah was not targeted.
In a statement, Major General Turki Al-Maliki, the official spokesman for the Coalition Forces, said that “the terrorist Houthi militia committed a cowardly and reckless act when it targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea, adding this to its list of crimes and maritime terrorism in one of the most important international waterways.”
* This article originally appeared in Arabic on Asharq.
