The UN Security Council has scheduled a vote on a resolution that would condemn and demand an immediate halt to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea area.
The US draft resolution says at least two dozen Houthi attacks are impeding global commerce “and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.”
The Iranian-backed Houthis, who have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognised government since 2014, have said they launched the attacks with the aim of ending Israel’s devastating air-and-ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The resolution, which is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader – a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company seized on November 19 along with its crew.
Links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.
In the latest incident, a barrage of drones and missiles targeted shipping in the Red Sea on Tuesday, although the US said no damage was reported.
The Red Sea links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Nearly 10 per cent of all oil trade and an estimated $1 trillion in goods pass through the strait annually.
The Houthi attacks have forced many shipping companies to bypass this route and use the much longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.
A US-led coalition of nations has been patrolling the Red Sea to try and prevent the attacks.
Last week the US, UK and 11 other countries issued a statement calling for the immediate end of Houthi attacks and warning that further attacks would require collective action.
At an open Security Council meeting last week, Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called on Houthi leaders to implement the statement by the 13 countries and halt attacks.
But he stressed that the Houthi’s actions must be seen as a response to “Israel’s brutal operation in Gaza” and the best scenario would be for the Security Council to redouble efforts to end the Yemen civil war and the Israel-Hamas conflict.
