US condemns Houthis' seizure of UAE-flagged vessel off Hudaydah

Washington DC [US], January 5 (ANI/Sputnik): The US government has condemned the seizure of a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-flagged cargo vessel off the Yemeni port of Hudaydah as it threatens international trade and regional security, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
"The United States condemns the Houthis' January 2 seizure of a UAE-flagged merchant vessel off the coast of Hudaydah, Yemen. These actions interfere with freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and threaten international trade and regional security," Price said in a press release on Tuesday.
Price called on the Houthis to immediately release the tanker and crew unharmed and stop all violence interfering with the political process seeking to end the war in the Republic.
Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces, led by President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthi rebels. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led Arab alliance, working in cooperation with Hadi's forces, has been conducting air, land and sea operations against the Houthis. The conflict has created the arguably biggest humanitarian crisis in the world. (ANI/Sputnik)