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The United States and Yemen’s Houthis have reached a ceasefire agreement, mediators announced on Wednesday, saying the deal would ensure “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea, where the Iran-backed rebels have attacked shipping for months.
The agreement comes after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would end attacks against the Houthis after the rebels agreed to stop harassing ships, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel.
Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi said that “following recent discussions and contacts … with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides”.
“Neither side will target the other … ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping” in the Red Sea, he added in a statement.
At the White House, Trump said the rebels had “capitulated” after a seven-week US bombing campaign that left 300 dead, according to a tally of Houthi figures by the AFP news agency.
The rebels’ political leader Mahdi al-Mashar did not comment on the accord but promised a “painful” response to deadly Israeli strikes that came in retaliation to Houthi missile attacks on Israel’s main airport.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam told the rebels’ Al-Massirah television channel that any US actions would garner a response. “If the American enemy resumes its attacks we will resume our strikes,” he said.
“The real guarantee for the accord is the dark experience that the United States has had in Yemen,” he added.
Mashar said in his statement that attacks on Israel “will continue” and go “beyond what the Israeli enemy can withstand”.
A missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels penetrated Israel’s advanced air defense systems, striking near the country’s main airport earlier this week. Source: EPA / AAP
‘They have capitulated’
, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
“The Houthis have announced … that they don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight,” Trump said at a White House press appearance alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated.
“They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s … the purpose of what we were doing.”
His comments came just hours after Israeli warplanes put the rebel-held Sanaa international airport out of action in raids that killed three people, according to the Houthis.
The US defence department said last week that US strikes had hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since mid-March.
Airport ‘completely destroyed’
Tuesday’s Israeli strikes “completely destroyed” Sanaa airport, an airport official said, and also targeted power stations and a cement factory.
Israel’s military said “fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport”.
The strikes came after a Houthi missile gouged a crater near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Sunday.
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