US condemns 'reckless, indiscriminate' attacks on civilian ships by Houthis

WASHINGTON

The US condemns the latest "reckless and indiscriminate" attacks on civilian ships by Yemen’s Houthis, the State Department said Thursday.

"This includes the deliberate attacks on the M/V TUTOR, which sunk earlier this week, and the M/V VERBENA, which is abandoned and adrift in the Red Sea, posing a navigational hazard to other maritime traffic," the department said in a statement.

The Houthis killed three seafarers aboard the MV True Confidence on March 6 and sank the MV Rubymar on March 2, posing a "critical threat" to Red Sea ecosystems, it added.

"Houthi attacks continue to hinder vital humanitarian assistance from reaching Yemenis and pose dire risks to economic and humanitarian conditions in countries across the Red Sea region and to the broader global economy," it underlined.

Stressing that the US and its partners will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, it called on the Houthis to release all detainees, including UN, diplomatic and non-governmental organization staff they detained earlier in June.

The Pentagon said Thursday that the US is not looking to get into a "full-scale conflict" with the Houthis.

"Our focus, again, continues to be on freedom of navigation and safety of the maritime corridor," spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters.

The Houthi group has been targeting Israeli-linked cargo ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli onslaught since Oct. 7 last year.

The Red Sea is one of the world's most frequently used sea routes for oil and fuel shipments.

Earlier this year, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a multinational mission, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to counter Houthi attacks.