NEW YORK: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called on all parties “not to escalate” the volatile situation in the Red Sea, his spokesperson said following London and Washington launched attacks on Yemen’s Houthi group.
The attacks early on Friday against the Houthis, who say they are acting to express solidarity with the people in the Gaza Strip, follow weeks of attacks on Red Sea shipping and have fueled fears of the Hamas-Israel war spreading in the region.
The UN chief’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the Secretary General further calls on all sides involved not to escalate even more the circumstances in the interest of stability and peace in the Red Sea.
Guterres Warns Against Escalation After US-UK Attacks on Yemen
Meanwhile, Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East region, told the UNSC “we are observing the cycle of violence that risks serious political security, humanitarian and economic repercussions in the region and Yemen.” He said that the recent developments in the Red Sea and regional tensions are very alarming.
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Russia’s envoy to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya called the joint US-UK attacks on Yemen blatant armed aggression against another nation. The envoy said that these countries all carried out a mass attack on Yemen, adding, he is not talking regarding an attack on some group within the state but an assault on the people of the entire. Vasily Nebenzya said that aircraft, warships and submarines were used during the US and British action.
But American’s envoy to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has warned that no states’ vessels were immune to the threat posed by Houthi group to shipping in the Red Sea. She said that whether the ship flies an American flag, or the flag of another countries… all of their ships are vulnerable.
Britain’s envoy to the UN Barbara Woodward claimed that the UK “took limited, essential and proportionate action in self-defense.”
