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The
Houthi movement, an Iran-aligned group that controls much of
Yemen after nearly a decade of war against a Western-backed and
Saudi-led coalition, has emerged as a strong supporter of the
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in its war against Israel.
The group has been attacking commercial ships it says are linked
to Israel or bound for Israeli ports, and has engaged directly
with the U.S. navy in the Red Sea, firing ballistic missiles and
deploying armed drones against U.S. and British warships.
The Houthis' top negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam said the attacks
in the Red Sea, however, had no impact on the peace process
underway with Saudi Arabia, with the mediation of Oman and the
United Nations.
"It has nothing to do with what is happening in the Gaza Strip,
unless the Americans want to move other countries in the region
to defend Israel which is another matter," he told Reuters.
U.S.-allied Gulf and Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, have
been pressing Washington for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,
saying that is the only way to prevent the conflict from
spreading beyond the Gaza strip.
Washington says it will continue to stand with Israel and ensure
that Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israeli towns in which its gunmen
killed 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages can never happen
again.
"The one who is dragging the region into a wider war is the one
who allows the continuation of the aggression and the siege that
continues for more than 100 days in the Gaza Strip," Abdulsalam
said.
The group is seeking to pressure the Israelis and Americans into
a ceasefire, including lifting the siege on Gaza and moving
towards peace and dialogue, Abdulsalam added.
The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday demanded Yemen's Houthis
immediately end their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and
implicitly endorsed a U.S.-led task force that has been
defending vessels while cautioning against escalating tensions.
The head of the Islamist group's supreme revolutionary committee
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, however, said that the UN resolution was
a "political game" and that the United States was the one
violating international law.
(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, additional reporting by Ahmed
Tolba; Editing by Michael Perry and Hugh Lawson)
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