AL-MUKALLA: The US-led naval coalition in the Red Sea has downed a Houthi drone and a remote-controlled boat targeting merchant ships near the coast of Yemen.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced that its forces had destroyed a remote-controlled boat, while a coalition’s aircraft shot down a drone of Houthis on Wednesday.
The statement said it was determined these arms presented a threat to merchant ships and US Navy ships in the area.
The EU’s Red Sea naval mission has said that a French Navy helicopter shot down a Houthi drone flying over the Red Sea near commercial ships. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for launching the drone or boat.
Since November, the Houthi militia has carried out hundreds of missiles, drones, and remote-controlled boats against international commercial and naval vessels in the Red Sea especially in Bab Al-Mandab Strait, claiming to be in support of Palestinians.
Yemen’s recognized government has urged the international community, including the UN and other global bodies, on Thursday to designate Houthis as terrorists, and to condemn Houthi human rights violations, in Radaa, Al-Bayda, which left 35 civilians wounded or dead.
The Yemeni government in a letter to the UN Security Council, the UN secretary-general, and international delegates at the UN, has urged the UN to take strict and concrete steps against the Houthis to put an end to their activities in Yemen.
It said that Houthi militias have falsely claim to be protecting the Palestinian people in Gaza, as they continue to commit the same atrocities and heinous crimes against the Yemeni people.
Foreign missions in Yemen, as well as local and global human rights organizations, have denounced the Houthis for damaging people’s houses in Radaa.
Human Rights Watch has also called on the Houthis to immediately probe the destruction of homes and compensate those affected.
Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that Houthis in Yemen are continuing their brutal treatment of civilians under their rule.
