UN Security Council demands Houthis stop Red Sea shipping attacks

UNITED NATIONS  –  The UN Security Council has called for an immedi­ate end to attacks by Yemen Houthi on shipping in the Red Sea, adopting a resolution which received four abstentions including those from Russia and China. The resolution also called on the Houthis to release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated ve­hicle carrier linked to an Israeli businessman that the group commandeered on 19 November, along with its 25 crew. Eleven of the Council’s 15 mem­bers supported the resolution, none voted against it, with four abstentions. The meeting follows an emergency briefing and consultations last week to address the growing threat posed by Houthi at­tacks in one of the world’s key shipping channels.

The Council’s adoption of the resolution came after it rejected amendments proposed by Russia that would have stripped out the implicit endorse­ment of the US-led task force and included the war in Gaza among the root causes of the Houthi strikes. Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia questioned the legitimacy of the task force and said the resolu­tion as drafted was an open-ended blessing of it. De­spite possessing a veto power in the Security Coun­cil, Russia and China both chose to abstain from the vote, along with Mozambique and Algeria. The resolution, noting the large-scale violations of an arms embargo against the Houthis, also reiterates the need for all member states to adhere to their obligations and condemns the provision of arms to the Houthis. The United States reported earlier in the day that together with UK naval forces it had shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Houthi on Tuesday in the southern Red Sea. 

There have been over two dozen separate attacks on international shipping carried out by the rebel movement which controls much of Houthis, since the October 7 when the war erupted in Gaza, ac­cording to the UN. Houthis control the capital Sana and large swathes of the country including the Red Sea coast. They began targeting what they believe to be Israel-bound vessels in mid-November after first launching missile and drone attacks against Israel itself, in support of the extremist group. Now they have widened their aim to all international shipping companies, until, they say, Israel allows full humani­tarian supplies to enter Gaza, causing many compa­nies to divert ships far to the south around the Cape of Good Hope, driving up costs and threatening to disrupt the entire global supply chain.