The Minister of Interior in the internationally recognized Yemeni government, Major General Ibrahim Haidan, commented on the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea against commercial ships.

Haidan said in a statement to Kuwait News Agency, “Today the world is paying the price for stopping the battle to liberate Hodeidah and its port in accordance with the Stockholm Agreement after the Yemeni state was on the verge of controlling it from the Houthi militias and restoring its maritime security.”

He added, “The chaos taking place in the Red Sea currently is an inevitable result of the international community stopping the battle to restore what the Yemeni state considers its control over the port of Hodeidah, one of the most important ports in Yemen, for humanitarian reasons.”

He stressed, “Yemen was and is still searching for international support to restore its sovereignty over every atom of its sand and water and end the coup by the Houthi militias that control several governorates, including the coastal governorate of Hodeidah.”.

He added: “The world, after the Houthi piracy and attack on ships in international shipping lanes, has become hostage to the madness of a militia that has made itself the spearhead to achieve a foreign agenda that aspires to control international shipping lanes, water straits, and oil and gas sources.”

The Yemeni minister warned, “The continuation of chaos in the Red Sea will push the region into regional and international conflict and wars that will make it volatile and unstable for years to come.”

He said, “Immersing Yemen and the region in this conflict gives an opportunity for those who aspire to seize wealth, whether through piracy or under the pretext of combating it.”

He stressed that “the Yemeni government will contribute to restoring stability in the shipping lines in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab according to its capabilities and will work to provide full protection in Yemeni territorial waters.”

During the past weeks, the Houthis launched more than 25 operations targeting commercial ships they suspected of being linked to “Israel” or heading to Israeli ports, near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.

The attacks disrupted shipping on the vital maritime trade route and prompted the US Navy into combat. The rebels have become one of the most active factions in the so-called resistance axis in Iran since the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.

On December 18, 2023, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a naval task force that includes a number of countries, including one Arab country, Bahrain, with the aim of confronting attacks in the Red Sea