2023-12-10 06:40:00
(CNN) — Israel is prepared to act once morest efforts by Houthi rebels in Yemen to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea if the international community does not do so, Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said on Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken with US President Joe Biden, as well as European leaders, regarding Houthi attacks on merchant ships with suspected Israeli links, Hanegbi told Israel’s Channel 12.
“Israel is giving the world some time to organize and prevent this, but if there is no global agreement, because it is a global problem, we will act to eliminate this naval siege,” Hanegbi said.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are a Shiite political and military organization that has been fighting a civil war once morest a Saudi-backed coalition since 2014.
There has been an uptick in its maritime activities since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
American warships have already been protecting shipping in the region. Last week, a U.S. warship shot down multiple unmanned aerial vehicles originating from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in the southern Red Sea, according to U.S. military officials. One of the incidents occurred during a series of attacks on three commercial vessels.
U.S. military officials said they are considering beefing up protections for commercial ships around a vital Red Sea shipping route amid a series of recent missile attacks by Houthi militants operating from Yemen.
The United States discussed ways to increase security in the area with members of the Combined Maritime Forces, a multinational naval task force tasked with protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
U.S. officials said publicly that discussions centered on the possibility of escorting ships operating in the Red Sea and through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait to the Gulf of Aden, the narrow waterway separating Yemen and the Horn of Africa.
This screenshot from the handout shows the seizure of the Galaxy Leader Cargo ship by Houthi fighters in the Red Sea off Hudaydah on November 20.
No US deadline for Gaza operations: Israeli official
Hanegbi also discussed developments on the ground in Gaza and said the United States had not given Israel any time frame to complete military operations in the enclave.
“They understand that they are not in a position to tell the IDF how much time they need to achieve the objectives,” he said.
“The good thing is that they share the same goals… It’s fair to assume that we can’t measure this in weeks and I’m not sure it can be measured in months.”
CNN previously reported that US officials expect Israel’s operation targeting the southern end of the strip to last several weeks before it transitions, possibly in January, to a lower-intensity, hyper-localized strategy that narrowly targets specific Hamas militants and leaders. , according to several senior administration officials.
The White House is deeply concerned regarding how Israel’s operations will unfold over the coming weeks, a senior US administration official said.
The United States strongly warned Israel in “tough” and “direct” talks, the official said, that the Israel Defense Forces cannot replicate the type of devastating tactics it used in the north and must do more to limit civilian casualties.
Hanegbi said he did not believe Hamas leaders had expected the extent of Israel’s response to the attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed.
“I don’t think Yahya Sinwar (Hamas leader in Gaza) has realized that the IDF will actually go wherever they want inside Gaza and kill more than 7,000 terrorists,” Hanegbi said.
“This is the minimum estimate, it might be higher since we don’t know everything,” he added.
“We are getting very close to Hamas command and control centers in Jabalia and Shejaiya, the strongholds of persistent resistance in the northern Gaza Strip. And in the south we are operating fiercely.”
Asked regarding the possibility that Israel would have to choose between killing Sinwar and saving the hostages if they were in the same place, Hanegbi said: “We might face such a situation, it is a heartbreaking dilemma for anyone responsible for the seizure.” of decisions, but that would mean that we have achieved it.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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