At a time when doubts are rising about the true potential of Houthis seriously engaging with efforts to end the conflict in Yemen, leaders in the Iran-backed militia released statements fiercely ridiculing Washington’s latest press for a ceasefire in the war-torn country.
Houthis have also continued to mount a fierce military operation against Yemen’s oil-rich governorate of Marib, where thousands of Yemeni internally displaced people had sought refuge from the horrors of war.
On Thursday, the Saudi-led Arab coalition destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile targeting civilians in Marib. It managed to destroy both the missile and the launch pad.
Yemen’s legitimate government had condemned the Houthis’ repeated attacks on camps for the displaced in Marib.
The foreign affairs ministry said that the militias have targeted refugee camps north of Marib.
The attacks have caused dozens of casualties, mostly women and children, the ministry confirmed.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak also said that the militias’ systematic terrorist acts against international shipping lanes and vital energy installations in Saudi Arabia are a serious and destabilizing threat to the security and stability of the region and world.
He called on the international community to exert maximum pressure on the militias to stop the military escalation, reported the official Yemeni News Agency (Saba).
Making his statement at a virtual ministerial meeting of the Arab-Japanese political dialogue, bin Mubarak indicated that the Houthi escalation and attacks against civilian targets come in retaliation to the legitimate government’s positive response to the Saudi peace initiative and international calls for a ceasefire.
He condemned the Houthis for continuing their battle for Marib despite the ceasefire offer.
As for the looming risk of a catastrophic oil spill happening at the eroding Safer oil tanker, which is moored off the Red Sea coast in Yemen, the FM urged the international community and UN Security Council to shoulder their responsibility in getting the Houthis to lift the block on access to the derelict ship.
The Houthis have been preventing a UN team of experts from accessing the vessel for assessment and maintenance work.
