Weapons Allegedly Headed for al Houthi Rebels Seized
Yemen – On JUL8, troops loyal to the Hadi Government seized a vessel believed to be heading to rearm al Houthi opposition forces, as reported by Hadi/Saudi-loyal media outlets in Yemen yesterday. The vessel allegedly contained weapons and ammunition onboard.
In a statement, Aden city governor, Brigadier General Aidroos Al-Zubaidi, said that forces seized the shipment near the coast of Somalia and Djibouti coming from the Horn of Africa while heading to the Al-Mukha District. The Al-Mukha District, in Southwest Yemen, is presently held by members of the Shia oriented al Houthi tribe. Aden’s Governor stated that the ship involved in Friday’s incident is currently being held until authorities can complete their investigation. He did not mention what personnel were found on board the ship.
This is the second time in recent months that accusations have been leveled against Iran for supplying al Houthi with arms.
On MAR28, the Combined Maritime Forces, an American and British-led coalition that fights terrorism and piracy in the Horn of Africa region, seized a vessel suspected of transporting weapons. Onboard the cargo was found to consist of some 1,989 AK-47 assault rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 mortar tubes. The U.S. Navy concluded that the ship had originated from Iran, and was likely to be heading towards Yemen.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the seizure of weapons, upon which Iran denied that it had “engaged in such delivery.” Former Royal Navy Captain Gerry Northwood, who had commanded the UK counter-piracy force off Somalia, remarked to an English media outlet that:
“The question with cases like this is who is going to do the prosecution of anyone aboard the boat. The coalition cannot prosecute, it has to hand the crew over to a member country to do that, and that member country has to do against a specific national law. That is where grey areas start. We can all agree that finding people with large stashes of weapons may not look good, but then you get into grey areas about whose laws they have actually broken.”
Earlier this year, the United States, United Kingdom, France, and others suspended all weapon sales to Saudi Arabia due to its use of at least six types of cluster munitions, three delivered by air-dropped bombs and three by ground-launched rockets supplied by the countries. As of yet, no sanctions or formal accusations have been leveled against Iran over their alleged supplying of the al Houthi militia in Yemen.
#YEMEN #IRAN #SAUDI
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John Sjoholm, Lima Charlie News
John Sjoholm is Lima Charlie’s Middle East Bureau Chief, Managing Editor, and founder of the consulting firm Erudite Group. A seasoned expert on Middle East and North Africa matters, he has a background in security contracting and has served as a geopolitical advisor to regional leaders. He was educated in religion and languages in Sana’a, Yemen, and Cairo, Egypt, and has lived in the region since 2005, contributing to numerous Western-supported stabilisation projects. He currently resides in Jordan. Follow John on Twitter @JohnSjoholmLC
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