The Houthi militia based in the country has “capitulated” and does not “want to fight anymore,” the US president has claimed
Washington will immediately halt air strikes on Yemen, US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday. He made the announcement while speaking at the White House alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The order comes after weeks of US-led attacks on Yemen targeting the Houthi militant group, which has “capitulated” and pledged to stop attacks on commercial maritime traffic in the region.
The US president said the Houthi group has told Washington it did not “want to fight anymore”. “We will honor that and we will stop the bombings. They have capitulated,” Trump stated.
The main goal of the bombing campaign against the Houthis, in which the US and UK took part, was to stop the group “blowing up ships,” according to Trump.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio added “This was always a freedom of navigation issue. These guys are a band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping, and the job was to get that to stop,” Rubio said.
Shortly after the announcement, senior Houthi figure Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi said the movement will continue its support for Gaza, and urged Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to resign over his “crimes” and “failed terrorism.”
“The Yemeni people will not be intimidated by American and Israeli terrorism, and the crimes they have committed in Yemen are the same genocidal crimes they commit in Gaza,” Al-Houthi stated, without addressing Trump’s remarks directly.
The attacks on maritime traffic believed to be associated with Israel, as well as long-range missile and drones attacks on the country itself, have been the key elements of the Houthi campaign to support the Palestinian militant group Hamas amid the Gaza conflict.
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