DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi rebels are signaling they’ve stopped their attacks against Israel and shipping in the Red Sea as a shaky ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.
In a letter to Hamas’ Qassam Brigades published late Monday, the Houthis offered their clearest signal that their attacks have halted.
“We are closely monitoring developments and declare that if the enemy resumes its aggression against Gaza, we will return to our military operations deep inside the Zionist entity, and we will reinstate the ban on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas,” the letter reads.
The Houthis have not offered any formal acknowledgment their campaign in the region has halted.
The Houthis gained international prominence during the Israel-Hamas war with their attacks on shipping and Israel, which they said were aimed at forcing Israel to stop fighting. Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, no attacks have been claimed by the rebel group.
The Houthi campaign against shipping has killed at least nine mariners and seen four ships sunk. It upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war. The rebels’ most recent attack hit the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht on Sept. 29, killing one crew member on board and wounding another.
Meanwhile, the Houthis have increasingly threatened Saudi Arabia and taken dozens of workers at UN agencies and other aid groups as prisoners, alleging without evidence that they were spies – something fiercely denied by the UN and others.