DUBAI: Yemen's Houthi rebels are signalling they've stopped their attacks against Israel and shipping in the Red Sea as a shaky ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.
In an undated letter to Hamas' Qassam Brigades published online by the group, the Houthis offered their clearest signal that their attacks have halted.
“We are closely monitoring developments and declare that if the enemy resumes its aggression against Gaza, we will return to our military operations deep inside the Zionist entity, and we will reinstate the ban on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas,” the letter from Maj. Gen. Yusuf Hassan al-Madani, the Houthi military's chief of staff, reads.
The Houthis have not offered any formal acknowledgment their campaign in the region has halted. Israel's military, which has launched attacks killing senior Houthi leaders, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Houthis gained international prominence during the Israel-Hamas war with their attacks on shipping and Israel, which they said were aimed at forcing Israel to stop fighting. Since the ceasefire began on October 10, no attacks have been claimed by the rebel group.
The Houthi campaign against shipping has killed at least nine mariners and seen four ships sunk. It upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about USD 1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.
The rebels' most recent attack hit the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht on September 29, killing one crew member on board and wounding another.
While insisting its campaign targeted Israel-affiliated vessels, the ships attacked at time had limited — if any — relationship to the Israel-Hamas war.
The US launched an intense bombing campaign targeting the rebels earlier this year that President Donald Trump halted just before his trip to the Mideast. The Biden administration also conducted strikes against the Houthis, including using America's B-2 bombers to target what it described as underground bunkers used by the Houthis.
Meanwhile, the Houthis have increasingly threatened Saudi Arabia and taken dozens of workers at UN agencies and other aid groups as prisoners, alleging without evidence that they were spies — something fiercely denied by the UN and others.