(Riyadh) The head of Yemen’s Presidential Council on Saturday requested support from the United States and Saudi Arabia to “eliminate” the Houthi rebels’ ability to carry out attacks on shipping off Yemen.
“Defensive operations are not the solution,” Rashad al-Alimi said at a press conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh, referring to the US-British strikes against these Yemeni rebels, “the solution is to eliminate the military capabilities of the Houthis.
These statements come the day after American strikes launched against a Houthi site in Yemen after an attack by the latter against a British tanker which “caught fire” in the Gulf of Aden, a new episode in their campaign targeting international maritime traffic.
Rebels close to Iran have been increasing attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for weeks, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel in “solidarity” with the Palestinians in the bombed-out Gaza Strip. and besieged by the Israeli army since the bloody attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on October 7.
In response, US forces, sometimes jointly with the UK, have carried out a series of strikes targeting the Houthis in an attempt to deter them from continuing to attack commercial shipping, without success so far. The American strikes particularly targeted missile and drone launch sites.
Rashad al-Alimi heads the Presidential Council, the Saudi-backed entity that represents the internationally recognized government that the Houthis ousted from the capital Sanaa nearly a decade ago. This Council is based in the city of Aden, in the south of the country.
Analysts have warned that growing tensions in the region could derail efforts to achieve a ceasefire between the Houthis and the Saudi-led military coalition established in 2015 to support the government. .
On Saturday, Alimi said he supported the peace process, accusing the rebels and Iran of not wanting peace.
He also said he wanted support from the United States and Saudi Arabia for ground operations against the Houthis, saying Yemeni forces should be “partners” in these operations. “We demand (this support) every day, every month, every year,” he said.
Since 2014, the war in Yemen has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and plunged the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN.
The poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has, however, experienced a fragile lull since a truce negotiated by the UN in April 2022. The truce expired last October, but remains generally respected.