2024-01-16 13:17:00
Qatar PM says US-led strikes on Houthis in Yemen ‘will create further escalation’ in region
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani warned that recent US-led attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen would only deepen regional divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Al Thani said Tuesday that tensions in the Middle East are “affecting everyone,” and stressed that leaders’ main focus should be defusing the war in Gaza, where Israel’s deadly military offensive since Oct. 7 has decimated swathes of the territory and left more than 2.2 million people facing famine, deadly diseases and forced displacement.
“We always prefer diplomacy to any military resolution, and we believe that we should not just focus on those small conflicts, we should focus on the main conflict in Gaza and as soon as that dissipates, I think everything else will fade away.” stated the Qatari prime minister at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
When asked about the US and UK attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen over attacks on the Red Sea, he called their impact on freedom of navigation “a global issue”.
“What we have in the region is a recipe for escalation everywhere,” he added.
The Red Sea is an important shipping route for Qatar, which is a major exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Regional divisions: Since November, the Houthis (an Iranian-backed Shiite political and military organization) have been launching drones and missiles at commercial ships in the Red Sea.
Then on Thursday, the United States and the United Kingdom launched strikes against Houthi targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, marking the Biden administration’s fiercest response since the broadsides began.
The Houthis have said their bombings show solidarity with the Palestinian people and added that they will only relent when Israel allows food and medicine into Gaza.
The attacks could be aimed at inflicting economic pain on Israel’s allies in the hope that they will pressure it to cease its military offensive, which has killed at least 24,100 Palestinians and injured another 60,834 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. led by Hamas.
CNN cannot independently confirm the figures due to the difficulty of reporting from the war zone.
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