Israel sets out case to UN security council for full assault on Yemen’s Houthis

Israel has set out its case to the UN security council for a full assault on Houthi forces in Yemen, claiming the Iranian-backed group now represents a well-armed terrorist army that threatens not just the regional economy but the entire global order.

The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, also called for the Houthis to be designated as a foreign terrorist organisation, a step that may make it more difficult for Iran to provide material support without facing further economic sanctions.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN – who had called for the UN security council meeting to discuss the recent escalation in Houthi attacks on Israel – said the Houthis “were nothing more than part of Iran’s war against peace”. The group, he said, had an annual budget of $1.2bn (£0.95bn) and came dangerously close to strangling the Suez canal by its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.

He added that “millions of Israelis are waking up every night to the sound of sirens across the country”, accusing the Houthis of launching 300 attacks on Israel this year.

He said: “Let me make one thing absolutely clear; we have had enough. Israel will not stand by and wait for the world to react. We will defend our citizens.” The Houthis were no longer a regional threat but a threat to the world order, he said.

While almost all security council members at Monday’s meeting condemned the Houthi attacks on Israel mounted a week ago, many also condemned the Israeli threat to Yemeni civilians represented by the air raids on key power stations, the air traffic control tower at the airport in the capital of Sana’a, and ports which are critical to the delivery of aid. Nine Yemeni civilians were killed in the attacks that Israel said were retaliation for what Danon described as “a relentless Houthi bombardment of Israeli population centres”.

Barbara Woodward, the UK envoy to the UN, reiterated Israel’s right to self-defence but warned: “Israel’s action must be consistent with their obligations under international law including protection of civilians.”

She said she was “concerned by the attack on Sana’a airport that endangered Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus”. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) was at Sana’a airport when Israeli warplanes struck on Thursday. A crew member from Tedros’s plane was injured in the strike and Tedros said he and his colleagues “escaped death narrowly”.

“Humanitarian aid workers must be able to carry out their important work safely and securely,” said Woodward, adding the director general had been in Yemen to seek the release of a group of UN staff held hostage by the Houthis.

Israel’s latest remarks appear to be part of a strategic decision to launch further decisive attacks on the Houthis, a strategy it hopes will be endorsed by the incoming Trump administration. Danon portrayed the UN as morally compromised and unwilling to take the steps necessary to enforce an arms embargo on Yemen.

Israel wants the UN to interdict ships carrying Iranian weapons to the Houthis though ports such as Hodeidah. The US and the UK governments think the current weak mandate of the UN verification and inspection mechanism needs review.

Referring to the narrow escape of the WHO director general and his delegation, Danon said: “We have no control over who is where. We have no intention to bomb to harm NGO or the UN, on the contrary, but if they are in areas where Houthis are, they should be careful because we will not sit idly by.”

Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the UN, went further in criticising Israel, saying the attacks were not owing to self-defence, but “are part of military aggression against a sovereign state by the collective west”. He said it was irrelevant if the attack was regarded as retaliation since the scope of destruction was a deliberate escalation, and disproportionate. He accused the US and the UK of being involved in the attacks on civilian infrastructure.

The Houthi leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, and the group’s spokesperson, Yahya Qasim Sare’e, have made it clear that as long as the war in Gaza continues, the Houthis will continue to attack shipping and Israel. Some Houthi activists have said on social media that recent attacks on Jaffa are a prelude to an attack on Israeli nuclear sites.