Arms cache in Gulf of Aden
US Navy intercepts boat in area where it previously seized Iran-supplied weapons to Yemen militia
The US Navy has intercepted a small boat packed with hundreds of automatic rifles in the Gulf of Aden, and has handed the sailors over to Yemeni authorities, a defence official said yesterday.
Investigators have not yet determined where the boat came from or where it was headed, but it was boarded in an area where the US Navy has previously confiscated Iranian-supplied arms destined for war-ravaged Yemen.
“We’re not ready to pin this on anyone yet, we are doing an investigation of the evidence,” the US official said.
The incident occurred on Tuesday when sailors from the USS Jason Dunham boarded a small skiff that was having engine trouble and taking on water.
On board, they found about 600 bags filled with small arms — mostly AK-47s — totalling more than 1,000 rifles, the official said.
The skiff sailors were then transferred to the Yemeni coastguard. Their nationality was not released. The official said it was the first time since 2016 that the Navy had made a small arms seizure like this.
A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the three yearold was in Yemen to fight Iran-backed Al Houthi militia closing in on the last bastion of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government.
The Yemeni government has vowed to take “deterrent” measures against international organisations having links with the Iran-allied Al Houthi militants.
The warning was issued by Yemeni Foreign Minister Khalid Al Yamani days after UN humanitarian experts accused a Saudi-led coalition fighting Al Houthis of having mounted some deadly air strikes that could mount to war crimes. The alliance has condemned the report as “inaccurate” and “biased”.
“Many documents were previously presented about this behaviour, but the UN has not lifted a finger,” Al Yamani told Saudi newspaper Asharq Al Awsat in remarks published yesterday. “The Yemeni government cannot continue to tolerate such uncontrolled patterns of behaviour by some corrupt elements,” he added without elaborating.
“We want the [UN] secretary-general to fine-tune the performance and ensure its neutrality. We have repeatedly requested that UN organisations and its agencies in Yemen to come under the leadership of the special envoy.”
Al Yamani slammed the recent UN report as “biased”.
“We reject this approach that favours the coup and does not endorse tools of the international law and the Security Council resolutions,” he added.
In late 2014, Al Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government and seized territory in Yemen, including the capital Sana’a. In 2015, an Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, intervened in Yemen against Al Houthis.
Reporter killed
On Thursday, a Yemeni reporter was killed by a shell fired by the militants in the central province of Al Bayda. Ahmad Al Hamzi, the head of the state news agency Saba, and other escorts were killed while covering fight between government forces and rebels in Al Bayda.