U.N. Security Council resolution demands Houthis halt ongoing attacks

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council is again demanding that Yemen’s Houthi terrorists halt all attacks on ships in the region and is calling for the conflicts disrupting maritime security to be addressed.

The resolution, which also extends the requirement that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres report monthly on Houthi attacks, was approved Thursday by a vote of 12-0 with Russia, China and Algeria abstaining.

It condemns the Houthis’ ongoing attacks, which the terrorists say are aimed at pressuring Israel to end the war in Gaza, and emphasizes the need to address its root causes — “including the conflicts contributing to regional tensions and the disruption to maritime security in order to ensure a prompt, efficient and effective response.”

The resolution came as a ship traveling through the Red Sea on Thursday reported being hit in an attack carried out by Yemen’s Houthi terrorists, authorities said.

The ship issued a radio call off the coast of the terrorist-held port city of Hodeida saying it had been struck, the private security firm Ambrey first reported. A warship in the area was responding to the attack, Ambrey said.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center later also confirmed the attack.

“The nature of the attack is reported as a waterborne improvised explosive device,” the UKMTO said. “The vessel and crew are reported as safe and the vessel is proceeding to their next port of call.”

The UKMTO did not elaborate, but Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree in a prerecorded message released Thursday night said the terrorists used a drone boat in the attack on the vessel. He identified the ship as the Seajoy, a Malta-flagged bulk carrier.

The Iranian-backed Houthis have targeted more than 60 vessels mainly in the Red Sea by firing missiles and drones. Their campaign has killed four sailors, seized one vessel and sank two since November.

A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes on May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the terrorists say.

The U.N. resolution “urges caution and restraint to avoid further escalation of the situation in the Red Sea and the broader region.” It also encourages all parties to pursue diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

The resolution is a follow-up to one adopted Jan. 10 that condemned and demanded an immediate halt to Houthi attacks. The earlier resolution’s requirement for the secretary-general to report monthly to the council on the attacks expires on July 1.

Speaking on behalf of the United States and Japan who sponsored Wednesday’s resolution, U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told reporters after the vote that the measure underscores “the importance of the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms of vessels of all states in the Red Sea” and demands the Houthis immediately halt their attacks.

“These attacks threaten international peace and security with negative implications for global commerce and flows of humanitarian assistance,” he said.