The U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific, Khaled Khiari, has warned against the escalation in the Red Sea following the US and UK airstrikes on Yemen.
He has called on the Security Council to prevent the escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Yemen’s Houthis vowed fierce retaliation for recent U.S.-led strikes.
“These developments in the Red Sea and the risk of exacerbating regional tensions are alarming,” said Khiari.
“We call on this council to continue its efforts in actively engaging with all concerned parties to prevent further escalation from exacerbating regional tensions or undermining regional peace, security or international trade,” he added.
The U.S. Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the U.S. and Britain launched multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels.
The warning is in a notice to shippers who came as Yemen’s Houthis vowed fierce retaliation for the U.S.-led strikes, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel’s war in Gaza.
The U.S. military and White House officials said they expected the Houthis to try to strike back.
The U.S.-led bombardment — launched in response to a recent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the vital Red Sea — killed at least five people and wounded six, the Houthis said.
The U.S. said the strikes, in two waves, aimed at targets in 28 different locations across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
The White House in November said that it was considering redesignating the Houthis as a terrorist organization after they began their targeting of civilian vessels.
The administration formally delisted the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization” and “specially designated global terrorists” in 2021, undoing a move by President Donald Trump
Director of the Joint Staff, Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, said that the new U.S. strikes were largely in low-populated areas, and the number of those killed would not be high.
He added that the strikes hit weapons, radar, and targeting sites, including in remote mountain areas.