(AFP) – The United States and Yemen’s Huthis have agreed to a ceasefire, mediators announced, saying the deal would ensure “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea where the Iran-backed rebels have attacked shipping for months. The agreement comes after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would end attacks against the Huthis after the rebels agreed to stop harassing ships, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi on Tuesday said that “following recent discussions and contacts… with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides.” “Neither side will target the other… ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping” in the Red Sea, he added in a statement. At the White House, Trump said the rebels had “capitulated” after a seven-week US bombing campaign that left 300 dead, according to an AFP tally of Huthi figures.
The rebels’ political leader Mahdi al-Mashat did not comment on the accord but promised a “painful” response to deadly Israeli strikes in retaliation for missile fire at Israel’s main airport. Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam told the rebels’ Al-Masirah television channel that any US action would garner a response. “If the American enemy resumes its attacks, we will resume our strikes,” he said. “The real guarantee for the accord is the dark experience that the United States has had in Yemen,” he added.
Mashat said attacks on Israel, the United States’ main ally in the region, “will continue” and go “beyond what the Israeli enemy can withstand.” Huthi rebels have been attacking Israel and merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since late 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war. However, in March, they threatened to resume attacks on shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip, triggering a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes.
“The Huthis have announced… that they don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight,” Trump said. “And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated,” he added. “They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s… the purpose of what we were doing.” The Pentagon said last week that US strikes had hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since mid-March.
Trump’s comments came hours after Israeli warplanes knocked the airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa out of action in raids that killed three people, according to the Huthis. The Sanaa airport suspended all flights until further notice, its director said on Wednesday, after it sustained “severe damage” in the Israeli strikes. “Around $500 million in losses were caused by the Israeli aggression on Sanaa airport,” its general director Khaled al-Shaief told Al-Masirah television. Israel’s military said “fighter jets struck and dismantled Huthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport.” The strikes came after a Huthi missile gouged a crater near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on Sunday.
Residents reported power cuts after the Israelis also struck three electricity stations in and around the capital. “Our children are terrified,” said Umm Abdallah, a 35-year-old Sanaa resident. “They are afraid to go to the bathroom or eat because of the strikes.” Just before Tuesday’s attacks, Israel’s military called on Yemeni civilians to “immediately” evacuate the airport and its surroundings.
Tensions have soared this week over Israel’s plan to expand military operations in Gaza and displace much of the besieged territory’s population. The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called the attacks in Yemen and Israel “a grave escalation.” Israel says it has targeted Yemen five times since July 2024. Huthi authorities have reported a total of 29 people killed. Israel’s army regularly intercepts missiles launched from Yemen.
Sanaa airport reopened to international flights in 2022 after a six-year blockade by a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Huthis. It offers a regular service to Jordan on the national airline Yemenia.
© 2024 AFP
