U.S. Navy seized Arms Shipment

The US military said it seized an Iranian weapons shipment in January that had been destined for Yemen's Houthi rebels who have been attacking vessels in the Red Sea.

The seizure is part of a wider effort by the United States to counter Houthi attacks which have triggered reprisals by US and British forces, including a fresh wave of American strikes.

The US Navy "seized advanced conventional weapons and other lethal aid bound to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen from a vessel in the Arabian Sea on January 28," the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media.

The shipment contained more than 200 packages loaded with missile components, explosives and other devices, the statement said.

The Huthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been attacking vital Red Sea shipping lanes since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.

On January 16, it announced the first seizure of weapons to the Huthis since their attacks started.

CENTCOM said US naval forces boarded a boat heading for Yemen and seized missile components and other weaponry in an operation in which two commandos went missing.

However hundreds of loyalists of Yemen's Houthi rebels hold a military parade in Saada, north of the capital Sanaa, amid tensions in the Red Sea and war in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthi attacks have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, which normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development warned late last month that the volume of commercial traffic passing through the Suez Canal had fallen more than 40 percent in the previous two months.