RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Jan 27 — Yemen’s internationally recognised government today said “defensive” US and British strikes on the Houthi rebels aren’t enough and called for US and Saudi support to “eliminate” their ability to stage attacks on Red Sea shipping.
“Defensive operations are not the solution,” Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), told a briefing with journalists in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
“The solution is to eliminate the Houthis’ military capabilities.”
His comments came on the heels of a US strike early today against an anti-ship missile in Houthi-held Yemen, hours after the Iran-backed rebels caused a fire on a British tanker in the Gulf of Aden with a similar munition.
US and British forces on January 12 fired their first joint strikes aimed at reducing the Houthis’ ability to target vessels transiting the key Red Sea trade route — attacks the rebels say are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war with Hamas.
Washington, which since then has also carried out unilateral strikes against the Houthis, has said the strikes are “self-defence” operations, as has London.
Alimi heads the PLC, the Saudi-backed entity representing the internationally recognised government which the Houthis ousted from Sanaa nearly a decade ago. The PLC is based in the southern city of Aden.
Analysts have warned that rising tensions in the region could derail efforts to broker a ceasefire between the Houthis and a Saudi-backed military coalition which mobilised to topple them in 2015.
Alimi said on Saturday that he supported the peace process but charged that the Houthis and Iran did not want peace.
He also said he wanted American and Saudi support for ground operations against the Houthis, and that Yemeni forces would need to be “partners” in those operations.
“We demand (this support) every day, every month, every year,” he said. — AFP
