Yemen's Huthi rebels will continue targeting Israeli ships in the Red Sea, an official told AFP on Wednesday, despite a ceasefire that ended weeks of intense US strikes on the Iran-backed group.
A day after the Huthis agreed to stop firing on ships plying the key trade route off their shores, a senior official told AFP that Israel was excluded from the deal. "The waterways are safe for all international ships except Israeli ones," Abdulmalik Alejri, a member of the Huthi political bureau, told AFP.
"Israel is not part of the agreement, it only includes American and other ships," he said.
The Huthis, who have controlled large swathes of Yemen for more than a decade, began firing at Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in November 2023, weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
They broadened their campaign to target ships tied to the United States and Britain after military strikes by the two countries began in January 2024.
Alejri said the Huthis would now "only" attack Israeli ships. In the past, vessels visiting Israel, or those with tenuous Israeli links, were in the rebels' sights.
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