Arab coalition, US condemn Houthi hijacking of UAE-flagged ship as ‘flagrant violation’

The Arab coalition demanded that the Rawabi and all of its cargo be released from the port of Salif. (File/AFP)
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Updated 05 January 2022
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Arab coalition, US condemn Houthi hijacking of UAE-flagged ship as ‘flagrant violation’

  • The Rawabi had been transporting medical equipment from Socotra to the Saudi port of Jazan
  • It was attacked and hijacked by armed Houthis on Sunday

RIYADH: The hijacking of a UAE-flagged cargo ship off the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah is a “flagrant violation” of the principles of international law, the Arab coalition said on Tuesday.

The Rawabi had been transporting medical equipment from the remote Yemeni island of Socotra in the Arabian Sea to the Saudi port of Jazan when armed Houthis attacked it on Sunday, the coalition said on Monday.

The coalition demanded that the ship and all of its cargo be released from the port of Salif.

It warned that launching piracy and hijacking operations from any port in Yemen would make it a legitimate military target.

The US also condemned the hijacking on Tuesday and said these actions interfere with freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and threaten international trade and regional security.
“These Houthi actions come at a time when all parties should be de-escalating and returning to inclusive political talks,” the State Department said in a statement.
The US urged the Iran-backed Houthis “to immediately release the ship and crew unharmed and to cease all violence that sets back the political process to end the war in Yemen.”

 


Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe

Updated 24 January 2026
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Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe

RAQQA: Baghdad on Friday urged European states to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who fought for Daesh, and who are now being moved to Iraq from detention camps in Syria.

Europeans were among 150 Daesh prisoners transferred so far by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria. They were among an estimated 7,000 militants due to be moved across the border to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swaths of territory to the advancing Syrian army.
In a telephone call on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said European countries should take back and prosecute their nationals.
An Iraqi security official said the 150 so far transferred to Iraq were “all leaders of the Daesh group, and some of the most notorious criminals.” They included “Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis,” he said.
Another Iraqi security source said the group comprised “85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region.”
They all took part in Daesh operations in Iraq, he said, and were now being held at a prison in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “non-Iraqi terrorists will be in Iraq temporarily.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces jailed thousands of militant fighters and detained tens of thousands of their relatives in camps as it pushed out Daesh in 2019 after five years of fighting.