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Yemen’s Vice President said on Wednesday that the US strategy of deterring the Iran-backed Houthi rebels from disrupting international shipping in the Red Sea through calibrated strikes was not working.
“For now, we don't think that it has had a big effect on the Houthis,” Aidarous Al Zubaidi, Vice President of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council and head of the Southern Transitional Council, told The National at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Since Israel launched its retaliatory military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis have engaged in a series of attacks on shipping vessels on the Red Sea. They have seized ships and launched missiles at others, sowing fear among shipping companies and causing major disruptions to one of the world’s most important maritime routes.
The rebel group has attacked more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since October. Several ships have been sunk and crew members have been killed in the attacks.
The Houthi rebels have said their attacks are focused on ships tied to Israel and are being carried out in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. They have indicated the attacks will continue until the war is over.
Mr Al Zubaidi said that a new, more holistic strategy was required to deter the Houthis and protect Red Sea shipping.
“If we want to have an immediate effect or a real deterrence on the Houthis, it should be a joined-up approach, a local approach, joined up with a regional approach and an international approach,” he said.
Yemen's near decade-long civil war began when the Iran-backed Houthis captured the capital Sanaa, ousting the internationally recognised government. Yemen has been called one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with about a quarter of a million people killed in the conflict, many of them by indirect causes.
The Houthis have used the war in Gaza to bolster their image among Yemenis as a defender of Palestinian rights – something Mr Al Zubaidi said has won them support. But that the two issues should be “decoupled” and not conflated, he said.
A year ago, the prospect of ending Yemen’s now decade-long civil war seemed near, with a UN-brokered truce having expired but still holding. The start of the war in Gaza however, essentially ground any progress to a halt and now peace seems as elusive as it ever has.
“The escalation on the Red Sea has ramifications on us and the road map to peace that we were supposed to agree on, we can’t proceed with now,” Mr Al Zubaidi said. “I don't think the peace deal that was presented is viable any more.”