In Yemen, the Houthis on Saturday (January 15th) rejected a call from the UN Security Council demanding the ” immediate release from a vessel flying the UAE flag. The boat was seized in the Red Sea on January 3 off the rebel-controlled port of Hodeidah.
With our correspondent in Dubai, Nicolas Keraudren
The call is ineffective. At a meeting on January 12, the United Arab Emirates urged members of the UN Security Council to adopt ” a firm position against the Houthi rebels.
The seizure of the ship under the UAE flag is a ” act of piracy denounced the permanent representative of the Emirates to the United Nations. The boat, with 11 foreign crew members on board, contains equipment for the construction of a hospital, Saudi Arabia said.
A ship full of weapons, according to the rebels
For a rebel government official in Yemen, the version is different. “ The ship did not contain dates and games for children he quipped, “ but weapons intended for extremist groups “. When seized, the boat was coming from the island of Socotra. A strategic territory controlled by separatists from the south, close to the United Arab Emirates.
In Yemen, the seven-year-long war never ends. The Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, announced on Saturday that it had killed more than 300 Houthis in the past 24 hours in the provinces of Al-Bayda and Marib.