On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council addressed the issue of a spate of attacks on ships in the Red Sea carried out by Houthi militiamen and their repercussions on world trade and stability in the region, including in the region. consideration of the continuation of the military action of Israel in the Gaza Strip. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Khaled Khiari said all attacks from Houthi-controlled areas "must stop" and specified that "no cause or claim" can justify the continued attacks by the Houthis. Houthi against free navigation in the Red Sea. Khiari urged all parties concerned to avoid any further escalation and to ease the tension and threats, preventing Yemen from being "dragged into a regional conflagration."

The secretary general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez, condemned the attacks by pointing out that "they are unacceptable", as " ships must be able to trade around the world without obstacles and in accordance with international law ". Dominguez specified that if "the initial target was the ships linked to Israel, however," he said, "from the information we have received relatively to the latest events, it appears that this is not the case at present." "A significant number of shipping companies, some 18, have already decided to redirect their ships around South Africa in order to reduce attacks on ships and, of course," the IMO said in a statement. highlighted-this has an impact in particular on seafarers "and" this means additional days of extra travel and, of course, a negative impact on trade and a markup of maritime nils ".

In a joint statement, the governments of Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the United States condemned the Houthis ' attacks on the ships : " the attacks of the Houthis in progress in the Red Sea-the document says-are illegal, unacceptable and deeply destabilizing. There is no legal justification for intentionally targeting warships and civilian ships. The attacks on ships, including commercial vessels, carried out with the use of unmanned aircraft, small boats and missiles, including the deployment of anti-ship ballistic missiles against such ships, pose a threat to the ship. directed to freedom of navigation that forms the foundation of global trade in one of the most crucial waterways in the world. " With the statement the governments call for " the immediate end to these unlawful attacks and the release of the illegally detained ships and crews. The Houthis will take responsibility for the consequences if they continue to threaten human lives, the global economy and the free flow of trade in the region's critical waterways. "We continue to be committed to compliance with the rules-based international order and are determined to counter the hostile protagonists responsible for illegal seizures and attacks," the statement said.

"We have a serious concern about the situation in the Red Sea," said Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, in his expected speech. Its trade routes represent a vital artery for international trade and play a key role in maintaining the stability and prosperity of the global economy. A free and safe navigation in the region is essential to ensure the sustainable delivery of commercial and even humanitarian goods, which is crucial in terms of providing assistance to countries in difficult socio-economic situations, including the Yemen. "We strongly condemn the attacks on civilian ships that threaten not only the freedom and security of navigation, but also the lives and health of seafarers," he said. In addition, they create further risks and increase instability in the region that is already "on fire." In this context, Russia supported the Security Council press release on this issue adopted in the first December. We call on the leadership of the Ansar Allah movement to cease any action that may pose a threat to merchant ships and their crews in the Red Sea and the Gulf. of Aden, to exercise restraint and demonstrate behaviour responsible. The movement will have to comply with the safety principles of navigation. "We are asking for the seizure of the car and truck carrier that took place on November 19 in the region," the Russian ambassador said. Galaxy Leader and his crew. "

"That being said," Nebenzia said, " the issue on which we are gathered to discuss cannot be seen separately from regional dynamics. It is no coincidence that the problem of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Aden takes on such alarming dimensions. I think that none of our colleagues will deny that developments in the Red Sea are a direct projection of the violence in Gaza, where the brutal Israeli operation has been continuing for three months now. The situation has also worsened in other occupied Palestinian territories and on the border between Israel and Lebanon. It is no secret that in the Middle East region there is a strong disappointment that the United States (which has covered Israel's actions), is holding the other members of the United Nations Security Council hostage and preventing adoption of a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. By repeatedly using its veto power to do so, Washington has compromised all efforts aimed at providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. The two deliberations of the Security Council adopted during this period-Resolutions 2712 and 2720-remain essentially unimplemented. This causes anger in the Arab world, which sometimes takes on dangerous forms such as the actions of Ansar Allah in the Red Sea. It is becoming more and more difficult for the governments of the Middle East to control the feelings of their populations, and it becomes almost impossible when a non-state actor is involved. "

"We see two scenarios as to how the situation in the Red Sea can evolve," the Russian ambassador said. The first (favourable) is to redouble the Council's efforts to resolve the yearlong conflict in Yemen and end the violence in the Gaza Strip. The causes of the current escalation would therefore be addressed and the safety of safe navigation in the region would be restored. The second scenario (catastrophic) is to "extinguish the fire" of the crisis in the Red Sea by spilling gasoline. This is essentially what the United States and its allies are asking us to do, " he said. As we have seen lately, in their armamentary of tools they have only violent methods. In the second scenario, the entire deal for Yemen is likely to be compromised. In addition, this would create very concrete prerequisites for triggering a new major regional conflict at least around the Arabian Peninsula. The danger that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will turn into a regional conflict has been mentioned several times. And the events of the Red Sea are not the first signal of this. Unfortunately at this point the situation has been snooping along the second scenario. Despite its high-profile name, the so-called "international maritime coalition" put together by Washington is in fact largely comprised of US warships, and the legitimacy of its actions in terms of law international raises the most serious doubts. Therefore, today our task is not only to reiterate the collective exhortation to Ansar Allah about the inadmissibility of their actions that we approved in the first December, but also to cool down the "hot heads" of Washington, for which another conflict in the Middle East constitutes only a part of the geopolitical game. "

The situation of insecurity for shipping traffic in the Red Sea is obviously affecting the Suez Canal, where fewer than 50 ships are transiting on a daily basis in recent days compared to more than 60 in the same period. period of beginning 2023.