Yemenis say U.S. is lying about navigation safety in Red Sea

This photo issued by the British Ministry of Defense on February 4, 2024 shows an RAF Typhoon FGR4 aircraft returning to the base, following strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen | AS1 Leah Jones/RAF via AP

Yemen’s Houthi-led government today slammed the United States for lying about the safety of navigating through the Red Sea.

The weekend’s bombing raids by the United States and Britain on Yemen, Iraq and Syria have inflamed tensions across the whole region.

Yemen’s deputy foreign minister, Hussein al-Aazzi, accused the U.S. of “lying” about the situation in the Red Sea, where Washington says it has to bomb Yemen to secure safe passage for international shipping.

He told Al-Masirah TV: “Navigation is safe across the Red Sea” and said his country’s forces were merely aiming to “prevent Israeli ships heading to the occupied Palestinian ports until the aggression stops.”

Demand allowing of deliveries

The Yemenis have also demanded that Israel allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where nearly the entire population of 2.3 million faces hunger.

Aazzi said the “militarization of the Red Sea by the U.S. and UK” posed the real threat to maritime security.

Since mid-November, the Yemenis have launched dozens of missile, drone and boat attacks on commercial ships linked with Israel.

They later extended their attacks to include U.S. and British-registered vessels after the NATO allies began bombing them.

Over the weekend, the U.S. attacked dozens of targets in Iraq and Syria in response to an attack on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three U.S. soldiers, and Britain and the U.S. bombed Yemen again.

The White House says those strikes were just the beginning and more will come. It accuses Iran of involvement in attacks on its troops by Iraq and Syria-based militias, and of supporting the Houthi attacks on ships.

But U.S.-British raids have so far failed to stem or even reduce the number of such attacks.

A drone attack on a base housing US troops in eastern Syria killed at least six allied Kurdish fighters late Sunday.

The U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said today that the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour and accused “Syrian regime-backed mercenaries” of carrying it out.

An umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq released a video claiming responsibility for the attack and showed fighters launching a drone from an unspecified location.

The group has launched dozens of drone attacks on U.S. military bases and troops in Iraq and Syria, and has called for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from both countries, as have both their governments.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Roger McKenzie

Roger McKenzie is the International Editor of Morning Star, Britain’s daily socialist newspaper. He is the author of the book "African Uhuru: The Fight for African Freedom in the Rise of the Global South" published by Manifesto Press.