Saudi-led coalition announces end to Yemen operation

DUBAI — The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen for almost a month announced on Tuesday the end to its military operation, but a Saudi spokesperson said forces would continue to target the Iran-allied Houthi movement as necessary.

"Operation Storm of Resolve has achieved its goals... [including] removing the threat to Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries especially in terms of heavy weapons," said a statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA.

"With its end, the new Operation Restoring Hope begins with the following goals: continuing to protect civilians, continuing to fight terrorism and continuing to facilitate the evacuation of foreign nationals and to intensify relief and medical assistance to the Yemeni people."

Saudi spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asseri said the alliance would still target movements by the Houthi militia group.

"The coalition will continue to prevent the Houthi militias from moving or undertaking any operations inside Yemen," Asseri told reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

"Operation Restoring Hope has begun and it represents a combination of political, diplomatic and military action," Asseri said.

US warships

In another development, the Pentagon said on Tuesday the presence of a large convoy of Iranian cargo ships in the Arabian Sea was one factor in the US decision to deploy additional warships in the waters off war-torn Yemen but was not the primary reason for the move.

Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesperson, also said he did not believe Navy warships patrolling the region had been in direct contact with the Iranian flotilla of nine cargo ships.

Warren dismissed reports the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and cruiser USS Normandy had been deployed to the region to intercept Iranian ships carrying arms to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fighting forces loyal to the US-backed Yemeni president.

“Many have asked me whether or not they [the US warships] are there because of the Iranian ship convoy or flotilla that is also in the area,” Warren said. “That is certainly one of the factors. That is not the reason they are there.”

He said the United States did not know what the Iranian cargo ships were carrying and declined to say whether the US warships would stop and board Iranian vessels if they attempted to enter Yemeni territorial waters.

“I’m not going to telegraph anything,” Warren said.

Warren said US warships were in the Gulf of Aden area “because of the deteriorating security situation in Yemen” and the need to ensure freedom of navigation through the zone, which is vital to oil shipping.

Asked how the Houthis could pose a threat to maritime security when they do not have a navy, Warren pointed to Libya, where rising conflict has prompted refugees to pack aboard boats that later capsized in the Mediterranean.

“It’s difficult to predict the future, so what we need to have are options,” Warren said. “We have to preserve and to create options for ourselves should the deteriorating security situation get to a point that... maritime security is threatened.”

The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on the Houthi rebels, and the Saudi navy has imposed a naval blockade around Yemen.