Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council held on Thursday the Iran-backed Houthi militias responsible for the consequences of their attacks against vessels in the Red Sea.
It stressed that the Houthi terrorism was a result of years of the international community abandoning its commitments towards Yemen.
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Wednesday to tackle the attacks. A statement Wednesday signed by the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom gave the Houthis what a senior Biden administration official described as a final warning.
“Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” the countries said in the statement. “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.”
The US says the Houthis have carried out some 25 attacks on ships in the Red Sea, forcing major shipping companies to reroute their vessels through the Cape of Good Hope.
The Houthis have claimed that their attacks are in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza amid Israel's war on the enclave. The Yemeni government refuted this, saying the Houthis were following an Iranian agenda and avoiding peace efforts in Yemen.
Official Yemeni sources said the Presidential Leadership Council held a meeting in Riyadh to assess the government and local authorities' performance in recent months.
Headed by PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi, the meeting reviewed the economic situation, services in the interim capital Aden and liberated provinces and efforts to stabilize the currency and prices of essential goods.
The meeting discussed the latest Saudi and Omani efforts that led to the adoption of a roadmap aimed at reviving the UN-led peace process, which also calls for ending the Houthi coup against the legitimate government.
