Yemen Monitor/New York/Exclusive:
The US representative to the Security Council said on Tuesday that “the time for excuses for the Houthis is over,” calling on the international community to condemn Houthi attacks on the Israeli occupation and in the Red Sea.
This came in a speech by Robert Wood, Deputy Permanent Representative of the US to the United Nations, during a Security Council session – monitored by Yemen Monitor – that discussed the Houthi attack on Tel Aviv on July 19, and touched on Israeli attacks on Hodeidah port the following day.
Wood said: “The Houthis are terrorists, desperate to divert attention from their own record of catastrophic failures in Yemen. Thus, the time for excuses for the Houthis is over.”
He added: “In light of the continued Houthi attacks and their rejection of the resolutions of this Council, we also believe that the time has come for this Council to consider taking additional measures to respond to the growing threats from the Houthis.”
He stressed the need to hold Iran accountable “because it enables the Houthis to carry out deadly attacks on Israel and others in the region.”
He noted that Tehran’s supply of weapons to the Houthis violates Security Council resolutions.
Wood said: “This Council can no longer ignore this fact, but must also respond to Tehran for its flagrant violations of its resolutions and its arming of terrorist groups.”
He stressed that “any member of the Council who stands in the way of holding the Houthis and Iran accountable is complicit in undermining the credibility of this Council’s resolutions.”
At least 9 Yemenis were killed and dozens more were wounded in an Israeli occupation airstrike on the western city of Hodeidah on Saturday, sparking local and Arab anger against the occupation. In the first acknowledged occupation attack on Yemeni soil since October 7.
Since the end of last year, the Houthis have been targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and recently they have expanded their operations to the Indian Ocean. They have said they are targeting Israeli-linked ships that are carrying out a brutal attack on Gaza Strip. But the Yemeni government and experts say the Houthis’ goals are domestic to escape internal crises and improve their image in the region.
In response, the US and Britain have been conducting an air campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi group since January 11. As a result, the Houthis have announced an expansion of their operations to include US and British ships.
Since November and until early July, the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) has recorded more than 200 attacks on US commercial or military ships off the coast of Yemen, including nearly 100 attacks since the start of US airstrikes on Yemeni soil.
