UN chief Antonio Guterres says he’s ‘gravely involved’ about US air strikes this week on Yemen.
The US has carried out 13 air strikes on Hodeidah’s port and airport, the Houthi-affiliated TV channel Al Masirah says, two days after a US air strike focused the Ras Isa port, additionally in Hodeidah, killing a minimum of 80 folks and wounding greater than 150.
Al Masirah additionally reported Saturday that three folks have been killed and 4 injured as a consequence of a US assault on al-Thawra, Bani Matar, and al-Safiah districts within the capital Sanaa.
The Houthis have promised to hold out “extra operations” regardless of the continuing US assaults.
US President Donald Trump’s administration introduced a significant army offensive towards the Houthis a number of weeks in the past. It stated the air strikes are geared toward forcing the Houthis to cease threatening ships crusing on the Purple Sea on a route essential to worldwide commerce.
Since November 2023, the group has reportedly launched greater than 100 assaults on vessels it says are linked to Israel in response to Israel’s war on Gaza and in solidarity with Palestinians.
On Friday, Houthi official Mohammed Nasser al-Atifi informed Al Masirah that the “American enemy’s crimes” is not going to deter the Yemeni folks from supporting Gaza, however “slightly will strengthen their steadfastness and resilience”.
The Houthis, often known as Ansar Allah or “supporters of God”, are an armed group that controls most elements of Yemen, together with Sanaa. The group emerged within the Nineties however rose to prominence in 2014 when it seized Sanaa and compelled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee the nation.
United Nations Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres “is gravely involved concerning the airstrikes performed by the USA over the course of 17 and 18 April in and round Yemen’s port of Ra’s Isa, which reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties, together with 5 humanitarian staff injured,” Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated in an announcement on Saturday.
Guterres expressed fears of injury to the port and “attainable oil leaks into the Purple Sea”, Dujarric added.
The strikes on Ras Isa aimed to chop off provides and funds for the Houthis, the US army stated. It was the deadliest assault of Washington’s 15-month marketing campaign towards the Iran-aligned group.
About 70 % of Yemen’s imports and 80 % of its humanitarian help cross via the ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and as-Salif.
Ras Isa is also the terminus of Yemen’s essential oil pipeline, which, together with its port, are “essential and irreplaceable infrastructure” in Yemen, in response to the UN Improvement Programme.
