ADEN, Yemen: A ceasefire deal between Yemen’s Houthis and the United Staes does not include sparing Israel, the group said on Wednesday (May 7), suggesting its shipping attacks that have disrupted global trade and challenged world powers will not come to a complete halt.
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the US would stop bombing the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen, saying that the group had agreed to stop attacking US ships.
After Trump made the announcement, Oman said it had mediated the ceasefire deal to halt attacks on US vessels.
There have been no reports of Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea area since January.
“The agreement does not include Israel in any way, shape or form,” Mohammed Abdulsalam, the chief Houthi negotiator, told Reuters.
“As long as they announced the cessation (of US strikes) and they are actually committed to that, our position was self-defence so we will stop.”
While tensions may have eased between the US and the Houthis, a resilient force that withstood years of heavy Saudi-led bombing in Yemen’s civil war, the agreement does not rule out attacks on any other Israel-linked vessels or targets.
The US intensified strikes on the Houthis this year, to stop attacks on Red Sea shipping. Rights activists have raised concerns over civilian casualties.
“They said ‘please don’t bomb us any more and we’re not going to attack your ships'”, Trump said of the Houthis during an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“And I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis effective immediately.”
