UN Security Council members call on Houthis to stop maritime attacks

UN Security Council members on Wednesday called for the Houthis to stop attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, saying they posed a risk to freedom of navigation and regional stability.

UN assistant secretary general Khaled Khiari said “no cause or grievance” could justify continuing Houthi attacks against freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.

The UN official called for an immediate halt to Houthi attacks to prevent impoverished and war-ravaged Yemen from being “dragged into a regional conflagration”.

In their first open meeting on the attacks by Houthi rebels, UN Security Council members also demanded that the Houthis release Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship linked to an Israeli company, and its crew, which the group seized on 19 November.

Chris Lu, a US representative to the UN, said Washington believed the situation had come to an "inflection point”.