Civil organizations in Aden warn of repercussions of Houthis' maritime escalation

News

Sun, 10-03-2024 04:02 PM, Aden

Aden (South24)

Civil organizations in Aden, South Yemen, warned on Sunday of the economic, humanitarian, and environmental repercussions of the Houthi military escalation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The warning came during an expanded meeting involving a wide range of civil organizations, representatives of international organizations and government agencies, and the participation of the South24 Center for News and Studies.

South24 Center

A statement issued as part of the meeting said: "We are deeply concerned about the repercussions of the Houthi escalation, including the sinking of the Rubymar ship off the Yemeni coast, which heralds a disaster threatening the Yemenis."

The meeting called on the United Nations to carry out its tasks, especially the United Nations Mission in Hodeidah (UNMHA), and implementation of Security Council Resolution No. 2722, which condemns the Houthi attacks on ships and demands they cease.

"We hold the Houthis responsible for further escalation, which may lead to forcing more organizations to stop their humanitarian operations in Yemen," the statement added.

The meeting called for the formation of a specialized team to assess the environmental impact of the Rubymar’s sinking on surface and bottom water in the polluted area of the Red Sea.

South24 Center

Yesterday, in a post on X, US Central Command announced that along with those of the international coalition, its forces had shot down at least 28 attack drones launched by the Houthis in the early morning hours in the Red Sea area.

The post added: "No U.S. or Coalition Navy vessels were damaged in the attack and there were also no reports by commercial ships of damage.."

The US Central Command statement came hours after an X post by the Houthi’s official military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, in which he said that they had carried out two operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden using 37 drones.

Sarea’s post said, "the first operation targeted the American ship ‘Propel Fortune’ in the Gulf of Aden with a number of suitable naval missiles, while the second operation targeted a number of American war destroyers in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden."

Today, the Yemeni government’s naval forces inaugurated a number of new boats into service, under the supervision of the Vice President of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council and President of the Southern Transitional Council, Aidrous Al-Zubaidi.

Yesterday, the South24 Center published an Arabic-language research paper titled “The History of Piracy in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (1800-2024): Motives and Consequences”.

The paper called for a new and effective strategy to combat maritime attacks, and perhaps the formulation of a more comprehensive vision for dealing with Houthi militia attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The paper said that the comprehensive approach should include providing military, security and economic support to the internationally recognized government in Yemen, and the necessary support to local forces in the South and on the west coast.