Reuters, Washington :
A flotilla of nine Iranian military and cargo ships that U.S. officials feared was carrying arms to strife-torn Yemen sailed northeast in the direction of Iran on Friday, a move the Pentagon said helped to ease U.S. concerns.
“The (Iranian) ships have turned around … Obviously what their onward plans are, we don’t know,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a small group of journalists travelling with him after a trip to California.
“It is a welcome event because it does contribute to de-escalation and that’s what we’re trying to suggest to all the parties there, is the best course, and those parties include the Iranians,” Carter said.
Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said earlier the flotilla was in international waters about midway along the coast of Oman on Friday and still headed northeast.
Warren declined to say the ships were going back to Iran or headed toward Iran. Warren said the U.S. military did not know their intent and the vessels could turn around at any point.
President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the U.S. government had warned Iran not to send weapons to Yemen that could be used to threaten shipping traffic in the Gulf. Carter said on Wednesday the United States was concerned the ships might be carrying advanced weapons to Houthi rebels there.
The U.S. Navy sent the USS Theodore Roosevelt and an escort warship into the Arabian Sea earlier this week to support seven U.S. warships already in the area around the Gulf of Aden because of concerns about growing instability in Yemen.
The Iranian-backed Houthis sidelined the Yemeni central government after seizing the capital Sanaa in September. The Shi’ite Muslim Houthis have continued to advance south capturing more territory. A Saudi-led coalition, supported by the United States, launched an air campaign to destroy heavy weapons controlled by the Houthis that could threaten Saudi Arabia. The Saudis say their aim is to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it was ending its month-long bombing campaign against the Yemeni rebels and shifting to a new phase of its operations in Yemen. Bombing has continued since then, and U.S. officials have said the Saudis had indicated they would continue to bomb as deemed necessary.
Meanwhile, At least 115 children have been killed and 172 injured in Yemen since the conflict began last month, according to the UN’s agency for the welfare of children.
A spokesman from UNICEF said on Friday at least 64 children who had died between March 26 and April 20 had been killed by the strikes.
“We believe that these are conservative figures,” said UN official Christophe Boulierac.
Another 26 children had been killed by unexploded bombs and mines, 19 by gunshots, three by shelling and three by “unverified causes related to the conflict,” the agency said.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched the air war at the end of March as Iranian-backed Houthi fighters swept across the country.
Yemen’s children: ‘When can I go out and play again?’
The World Health Organisation on Thursday said the overall death toll in Yemen had topped 1,000, and the UN’s human rights agency said on Friday at least 551 of the people who died were civilians.
UNICEF, meanwhile, said that since March 26, at least 140 children had been recruited by armed groups.
The agency’s representative in Yemen Julien Harneis said earlier this month that up to a third of fighters in the country were children.
“Hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen… continue to live in the most dangerous circumstances, many waking up scared in the middle of the night to the sounds of bombing and gunfire,” Harneis said in a statement on Friday.
Humanitarian crisis
The spiralling conflict has fuelled a humanitarian disaster in a country that was already suffering from shortages before the latest fighting erupted.
The UN’s World Food Programme warned on Friday that a full 12 million people in the country did not know where their next meal was coming from, a 13 percent increase since the conflict escalated in late March.
A flotilla of nine Iranian military and cargo ships that U.S. officials feared was carrying arms to strife-torn Yemen sailed northeast in the direction of Iran on Friday, a move the Pentagon said helped to ease U.S. concerns.
“The (Iranian) ships have turned around … Obviously what their onward plans are, we don’t know,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a small group of journalists travelling with him after a trip to California.
“It is a welcome event because it does contribute to de-escalation and that’s what we’re trying to suggest to all the parties there, is the best course, and those parties include the Iranians,” Carter said.
Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said earlier the flotilla was in international waters about midway along the coast of Oman on Friday and still headed northeast.
Warren declined to say the ships were going back to Iran or headed toward Iran. Warren said the U.S. military did not know their intent and the vessels could turn around at any point.
President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the U.S. government had warned Iran not to send weapons to Yemen that could be used to threaten shipping traffic in the Gulf. Carter said on Wednesday the United States was concerned the ships might be carrying advanced weapons to Houthi rebels there.
The U.S. Navy sent the USS Theodore Roosevelt and an escort warship into the Arabian Sea earlier this week to support seven U.S. warships already in the area around the Gulf of Aden because of concerns about growing instability in Yemen.
The Iranian-backed Houthis sidelined the Yemeni central government after seizing the capital Sanaa in September. The Shi’ite Muslim Houthis have continued to advance south capturing more territory. A Saudi-led coalition, supported by the United States, launched an air campaign to destroy heavy weapons controlled by the Houthis that could threaten Saudi Arabia. The Saudis say their aim is to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it was ending its month-long bombing campaign against the Yemeni rebels and shifting to a new phase of its operations in Yemen. Bombing has continued since then, and U.S. officials have said the Saudis had indicated they would continue to bomb as deemed necessary.
Meanwhile, At least 115 children have been killed and 172 injured in Yemen since the conflict began last month, according to the UN’s agency for the welfare of children.
A spokesman from UNICEF said on Friday at least 64 children who had died between March 26 and April 20 had been killed by the strikes.
“We believe that these are conservative figures,” said UN official Christophe Boulierac.
Another 26 children had been killed by unexploded bombs and mines, 19 by gunshots, three by shelling and three by “unverified causes related to the conflict,” the agency said.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched the air war at the end of March as Iranian-backed Houthi fighters swept across the country.
Yemen’s children: ‘When can I go out and play again?’
The World Health Organisation on Thursday said the overall death toll in Yemen had topped 1,000, and the UN’s human rights agency said on Friday at least 551 of the people who died were civilians.
UNICEF, meanwhile, said that since March 26, at least 140 children had been recruited by armed groups.
The agency’s representative in Yemen Julien Harneis said earlier this month that up to a third of fighters in the country were children.
“Hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen… continue to live in the most dangerous circumstances, many waking up scared in the middle of the night to the sounds of bombing and gunfire,” Harneis said in a statement on Friday.
Humanitarian crisis
The spiralling conflict has fuelled a humanitarian disaster in a country that was already suffering from shortages before the latest fighting erupted.
The UN’s World Food Programme warned on Friday that a full 12 million people in the country did not know where their next meal was coming from, a 13 percent increase since the conflict escalated in late March.
