Yemen's Houthi militia warned against attacking commercial shipping in Red Sea

London, Jan 4 (IANS) A group of Western nations have jointly warned the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen from carrying out any new attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Since November 2023, the militia have carried out attacks on commercial shipping in the region more than 20 times after it declared support for Hamas in the militant group's ongoing war with Israel, the BBC reported.

The Houthis have used missiles, drones, fast boats and helicopters to carry out the attacks and have often claimed that the targeted ships were linked to Israel.

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the group of 12 nations -- Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and the US -- issued the formal warning to the Houthis and called the attack in the Red Sea "illegal, unacceptable, and profoundly destabilising".

They said there was "no lawful justification for intentionally targeting civilian shipping and naval vessels", adding if the attacks continued then the Houthis would "bear the consequences", reports the BBC.

The nations also called for an "immediate end" to the attacks which, they said, posed a "direct threat to freedom of navigation" in the critical waterway through which almost 15 per cent of global trade passes.

According to the International Chamber of Shipping, 20 per cent of the world's container ships are currently avoiding the Red Sea and steaming around southern Africa as a result of the attacks.

This development comes as the Houthis claimed a new attack on a cargo ship in the Red Sea.

On Wednesday, the group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea in a live broadcast aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV said that the militia carried out an operation targeting the ship CMA CGM TAGE, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The operation came after the ship's crew refused to respond to calls from our forces, including fiery warning messages," he said.

The Houthis confirm that they will continue to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to Israel from navigating in the Red Sea and Arab Sea until food and medicine aid are allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, the spokesman stressed.

Wednesday's attack came nearly three days after a military helicopter of the US Navy forces patrolling the Red Sea shot and killed 10 Houthi militants and sank their three boats while they were trying to approach a merchant ship.

The Houthis have been fighting a civil war since 2014 against Yemen's government and control much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.