'No British or American ships in Gulf of Aden': ITV News reports from Yemen

ITV News is only British TV news team currently in Yemen, as Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo reports from Aden

The US conducted its fifth strike on Yemen-based Houthis on Thursday, despite President Joe Biden acknowledging that the missiles were not preventing attacks on Western boats.

There are usually lots of international ships in the Gulf of Aden, but not at the moment, a local boat skipper told ITV News.

ITV News is only British TV news team currently in Yemen, as Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo reports from Aden, in the south of the country.

Ayman Nabil, a guide who works for the port authority, said there are usually around 15-20 tankers and cargo ships but now "there are only two".

"We don't have any British come in, (and) we don't have any Americans," he added.

The captain of an Indonesian vessel carrying cement through Yemen spoke to ITV News from behind barbed wire.

"I had a message about the situation with the Houthis, and, you know, about the battles by drone and by missile, but I think this place is safe for now," he said.

He said that they did have an armed guard on board.

It comes a day after the US reclassified the Houthis as a terror group.

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi said in a televised statement: "The (US's) aggression will not change the position of our people, and their faith or commitment.

"And the targeting of ships linked to to Israel will continue."

But on Thursday the US offficials said it had hit two Houthi anti-ship missiles, which were loaded and ready to launch.

When asked if the airstrikes were working, President Biden said: "Well, when you say 'working' do you mean stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes."

He offered no explanation as to how the airstrikes could be made to be successful in achieving the original goal of preventing the Houthis from attacking vessels.

But the US and its allies appear to be making foreseeable responses to the unpredictable behaviour of the Houthis and their backers.

Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has told the US that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of any postwar scenario, highlighting the deep divisions between the close allies three months into Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

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