UNSC Demands Houthis 'Immediately Cease' Red Sea Attacks, Calls for Release of Galaxy Leader

The UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday demanded Yemen’s Houthis to end attacks on ships in the Red Sea and warned against escalating tensions in the Middle East. The demand came in a UNSC resolution that also called on the armed rebel faction to release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated vehicle carrier linked that the group seized on Nov 19.

As many as 11 members voted for the measure demanding the Houthis “immediately cease all attacks, which impede global commerce and navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace.” Four members, including veto-wielding Russia and China, abstained. None voted against it. The key provision of the resolution noted the right of UN member states “to defend their vessels from attack, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms.”

The provision amounted to an implicit endorsement of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a US-led multinational naval task force that has been defending commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from Houthi missile and drone attacks.

“The threat to navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea is a global challenge that necessitates a global response,” US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in urging the council to approve the resolution. “Houthi attacks on maritime vessels in the Red Sea threaten international peace and security and global commerce – and undermine the fragile humanitarian situation in Yemen,” she wrote on X.

The Houthis, an Iran-aligned group that seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports to show support for Hamas Islamists battling the Israeli offensive in Gaza. However, many of the targeted ships have had no links to Israel. The US accuses Iran of providing critical support for the Houthi attacks, including advanced missiles and drones, in violation of UNSC resolutions. Tehran denies the allegation.

‘Political game’

The Houthi spokesperson in Yemen, Mohammed Abdul Salam, dismissed the UN resolution as a “political game” and said the US was the one violating international law. The council voted after rejecting amendments proposed by Russia that would have stripped out the implicit endorsement of the US-led task force and included the war in Gaza among the “root causes” of the Houthi strikes.

The Houthi attacks have disrupted maritime commerce, prompting some shipping lines to divert vessels from the Red Sea to longer routes, threatening to increase energy and food prices. Washington said US and British warships on Tuesday shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by the Houthis at southern Red Sea shipping lanes in what London called the largest such attack in the area. US Central Command said there have been 26 Houthi strikes on shipping since the Houthis seized the Galaxy Leader.

(With agency inputs)