\n
<\/p>\n
BEIRUT: Yemen\u2019s foreign minister warned on Wednesday that the Houthis would become \u201cundefeatable\u201d if the world allowed them the time to do so, and her government sought neither a ceasefire nor negotiations with the Iran-backed militia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Houthis are given more time, they will become an undefeatable militia. They will be monsters,\u201d Afrah Al-Zouba told reporters during a virtual press briefing.<\/p>\n
Neither she nor anyone else could \u201cthink of living on this planet\u201d with such a threat looming over them, she added, a danger she warned had now spread to the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n
Al-Zouba, Yemen\u2019s first female foreign minister, said Yemen\u2019s government had abandoned \u201cthe illusion of peace\u201d that had allowed the Houthis to \u201cregroup, rearm and reattack the foundations of our state.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cWe are not calling for a ceasefire. We are not calling for starting any negotiations with the Houthis.\u201d Any ceasefire or political process must now come \u201cwith the needed conditions to make it real. We don\u2019t want to sign the same truce twice and expect different results.\u201d<\/p>\n
Al-Zouba began her briefing by offering condolences to Saudi Arabia and the families of the 13 people killed by a Houthi missile strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday. The victims included citizens of Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, the US, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Sudan and India. More than 300 people were wounded.<\/p>\n
She described the attack, and Houthi missile and drone attacks on Aden airport the same week, as \u201cdual acts of terror\u201d that showed the militia could no longer be regarded simply as a party to an internal Yemeni conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have become a threat to regional and international security,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Al-Zouba accused Iran of using the Houthis to out pressure on the international community, including Washington, at the negotiating table. After Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping and Saudi Arabia diverted oil exports to its East-West pipeline, she said \u201cthe decision was to block Bab Al-Mandab,\u201d another choke point for shipping, which had prompted the Houthi offensive on the Red Sea coast targeting the strait last month.<\/p>\n
The militia had offered assurances it would not disrupt freedom of maritime navigation except for Saudi shipping, an offer she said was false and one that \u201cno one in the international community believed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran supplies the Houthis with weapons, funding, training and support, she said, describing this as a conclusion reached through \u201cdocumented evidence, not simply a political assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n
She cited as examples of this evidence the seizure in 2013 of the cargo vessel Jihan 1 carrying Iranian weapons, and the interception in 2025 of about 750 tonnes of equipment and arms bound for the Houthis, both of which were investigated by a UN Panel of Experts.<\/p>\n
The Houthis had gone from being a beneficiary of Iranian expertise to an exporter of it, Al-Zouba said, citing findings by the Panel of Experts that Houthi military engineers had traveled to Somalia to train Al-Shabab fighters in the use of explosives, drone modifications and weapons maintenance. She described the expanding network as a \u201cRed Sea axis\u201d that now reached into the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n
Before the Houthi attacks on international shipping began this year, she said, the Red Sea carried about 12 to 15 percent of global trade. \u201cWith the Strait of Hormuz also under pressure, the security of Bab Al-Mandab matters more than ever,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Operation Dawn of Yemen, ordered on Oct. 4 by the head of Yemen\u2019s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, is being carried out under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Al-Zouba said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision is Yemeni, the command is Yemeni, the soldiers are Yemenis,\u201d and partners from the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen were providing air support, she added.<\/p>\n
All Yemeni forces, including the Giants Brigades, the Nation\u2019s Shield Forces and the regular army, operated under a unified command and a single operations committee, Al-Zouba said.<\/p>\n
Discussions with partners were being conducted in coordination with the coalition, she added, whose main objective was \u201cto support the Yemeni military forces, not to do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Government forces had regained control of key coastal positions overlooking Bab Al-Mandab Strait, she said, and fighting continues in Taiz, Marib, Hodeidah and along the west coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not an easy battle but it’s a must,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Since 2022, Al-Zouba said, the government had honored the truce agreement while the Houthis had stockpiled missiles with ranges exceeding 2,000 km and attacked oil and gas export facilities, depriving the state of revenue.<\/p>\n
She described the protracted Houthi siege of Taiz, one of the most populous governorates in Yemen, as \u201ca war crime.\u201d Hundreds of kidney patients could lose access to dialysis within one or two weeks, she said, as the militia cuts off water, fuel and food supplies.<\/p>\n
The government was talking to the International Committee of the Red Cross about getting fuel into the city for healthcare and water facilities, and to private companies about deliveries of food and water, she added.<\/p>\n
More than 217,000 Yemenis have been displaced since the latest escalation began, she said, and she denounced the Houthis for diverting aid, obstructing humanitarian efforts and continuing to detain 72 UN workers.<\/p>\n
Al-Zouba urged Washington to expand its sanctions on Houthi financiers, shipping networks, front companies and suppliers, and called on the EU to coordinate more closely with the US to close enforcement gaps. She also asked for intelligence sharing, training and equipment for Yemen\u2019s army and coast guard.<\/p>\n
Any settlement of the conflict, she said, must include disarmament of the Houthis in line with the agreed terms of reference and UN Security Council Resolution 2216.<\/p>\n
She cited the situation in Lebanon, where Hezbollah operated as \u201ca state inside the state,\u201d as an example Yemen did not want to replicate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a conflict between two equally legitimate authorities,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Houthis are a terrorist militia that seized our state institutions and territories by force and took the Yemeni people hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n