UN Security Council demands Houthis stop Red Sea attacks, they tell them to resolve Gaza situation

(Patria) - The UN Security Council on Wednesday demanded that the Yemeni Houthis immediately cease attacks on ships in the Red Sea and warned of escalating tensions while implicitly supporting the working group led by the United States that defended ships, Reuters reported.

The demand came in a Security Council resolution that called on the Houthis to release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese ship linked to an Israeli businessman, which the group hijacked on November 19, and its crew of 25.

Eleven members voted in favor of the measure, which calls on the Houthis to "immediately cease all attacks, which are obstructing global trade and the rights and freedoms of navigation, as well as regional peace".

Four members, including Russia and China with veto power, abstained. No one voted against. A key provision of the resolution, sponsored by the US and Japan, emphasizes the right of UN member states, in accordance with international law, "to defend their vessels from attacks, including those that undermine the rights and freedoms of navigation".

The provision represented implicit approval of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational maritime task force led by the US that has been defending commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden from Houthi missile and drone attacks.

"The threat to the rights and freedoms of navigation in the Red Sea is a global challenge that requires a global response," said US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, urging the Council to approve the resolution.

The head of the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, said on Thursday that the UN resolution on Red Sea navigation was a "political game" and that it was the United States that violated international law.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday demanded that the Yemeni Houthis immediately cease attacks on ships in the Red Sea and implicitly supported the US-led task force defending ships, warning of escalating tensions.

Al-Houthi said in a post on the X platform that what the Yemeni armed forces were doing was within the framework of legitimate defense and that any action they faced would have a response.

"We call on the Security Council to immediately release 2.3 million people from the Israeli-American siege of Gaza," he said.