‘Help us tackle Houthis on the ground,’ Yemen tells US and UK
Yemen needs Britain and America’s help to launch ground offensives against Houthi rebels, a senior official has said.
In addition to the ongoing airstrikes, a ground offensive is needed to tackle Houthi fighters, said Aidarus al-Zubaidi, the vice-president of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council.
“Strong strikes without ground operations are useless,” said Mr al-Zubaidi, adding that to “achieve a victory on the ground”, the Yemeni military requires support.
In an interview with AFP at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he added: “An international and regional alliance is necessary to secure international navigation in the Red Sea.”
The Houthis toppled the Yemeni government about a decade ago and have control over most of the country.
On Thursday, US forces launched a fifth strike against the Iranian-backed Houthis, a militant group that has been attacking vessels transiting the Red Sea, disrupting global shipping.
The air strikes have not stopped the Houthis from attacking ships.
While the Houthis say they are only targeting ships linked to Israel, in solidarity with Hamas, some shipping companies are sailing a longer route around the south of Africa.
The rebel group has now explicitly pledged not to attack Russian or Chinese vessels.
“As for all other countries, including Russia and China, their shipping in the region is not threatened,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, told Russian newspaper Izvestia.
“Moreover, we are ready to ensure the safe passage of their ships in the Red Sea, because free navigation plays a significant role for our country.”
The nature of global commercial shipping, however, makes it difficult to determine which country a specific vessel belongs to – a ship’s owner plus the crew and goods onboard are usually linked to different countries.
Meanwhile, Iran has released a Greek sailor who was part of a crew of 19 aboard an oil tanker that was seized by the regime last week.
The remaining 18 crew members are Filipino and negotiations for their release are under way, according to Empire Navigation, the Greek firm that owns the vessel.
Iran said it hijacked the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, which was carrying Iraqi crude and sailing toward Turkey, in retaliation against the US enforcing sanctions last year when it impounded the very same tanker, which used to sail under a different name, the Suez Rajan.
Chaos in the Red Sea has had several knock-on effects, raising the cost of commercial shipping and impacting exporters in China.
In December, the US and international partners formed a coalition to try to create a protective corridor for vessels sailing through the Red Sea, which connects Asia to the Middle East and Europe, and accounts for almost 15 per cent of international trade.
