Yemeni Houthis reject UN call for release of UAE-flagged ship | Houthis News

Houthi rebels say Rwabee was carrying military equipment and accused the UN of defending “killers who violate international law”.

Yemeni Houthi rebels reject UN request to release Emirati-flagged ship they were arrested earlier this month, along with its 11-member crew, said the ship was carrying “military assets.”

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has chartered a Rwabee Saudi company and described it as a “civilian cargo ship” in international waters carrying equipment for use in a rural hospital.

Officer Hussein al-Azzi Houthi said he was transporting military goods. “The Rwabee ships were not carrying … children’s toys, but weapons for extremists,” he told Houthis’ Al Masirah television.

The UN Security Council on Friday called for the “immediate release” of Rwabee and his crew, stressing the “importance of freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea,” a strategic route for international maritime transport.

In a statement drafted and unanimously approved by the UK, the 15-member Security Council called for “the immediate release of the ship and its crew” and stressed the “need to ensure the safety and well-being of the crew”.

He also called on “all parties to remove the situation in Yemen,” including working with a special UN envoy. back to the negotiating table.

Al-Azzi responded by accusing the UN of “working for killers who violate international law”.

Rwabee “belongs to a country involved in the attack on our people and the war with Yemen, and (Yemen) entered the territorial waters illegally,” he said.

A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen to support the internationally recognized government in March 2015, after the Houthis took over the capital Sana’a last year.

The Iranian-backed Houthis captured Rwabee on January 3 in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, and then released a video showing the military equipment allegedly on board, including inflatable military-style rafts, trucks and other vehicles, and what appeared to be a collection. rifles.

Al-Masirah has provided images from the Emirati-flagged Rwabee ship. #Iran– catch #Houthis kidnapped. pic.twitter.com/irfyh43rTr

– Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) January 3, 2022

Yahia Sare’e, Houthi’s military spokesman, said “it is now clear that the information that this ship was carrying a civilian rural hospital is incorrect. This is clearly military equipment.”

A statement from the Saudi-led coalition accused the Houthis of “armed piracy” and said the ship was carrying disused medical equipment from a Saudi rural hospital on the remote island of Socotra in Yemen, without providing any evidence.

Saudi state television has accused Houthis of carrying weapons on board.

The Basque Country is part of the Saudi-led coalition, although it withdrew troops in 2019. In a letter to the UN, Abu Dhabi stated that Rwabee’s crew consisted of 11 members, including seven Indians, including Ethiopia, Indonesia, Myanmar and others. Philippines.

The Security Council has condemned the growing number of incidents off the coast of Yemen, including attacks on civilian and commercial vessels, “which pose a serious threat to the maritime security of ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.”

The United Nations Mission in Support of the Cloud Agreement (UNMHA) said the port is essential for a poor country. UNMHA, which aims to monitor the port’s 2018 ceasefire, has called for an order to conduct inspections of the Houthi group that will not be militarized.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014 when the Houthis took over the capital Sanaa and much of the northern part of the country, forcing the government to flee south, then to Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations has said it will It needs $ 3.9bn to help about 16 million people in the war-torn country this year.