Trump says US will stop bombing Houthis as they have 'capitulated'

Washington, May 6 (IANS) President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US will stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen as the insurgent group has "capitulated" and sent a word that it will stop attacking ships.

The US has been conducting an unrelenting bombing campaign against the Houthis, with the aim of preventing them from further disturbing Red Sea maritime trade.

"The Houthis have announced that they are not -- or they've announced to us at least — they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight," President Trump said at a White House briefing alongside the visiting Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney.

"And we will honour that, and we will, we will stop the bombings."

He went on to say: "They have capitulated."

"We just found out about that. So I think that's very, very positive. They were, they were knocking out a lot of ships going, as you know, sailing beautifully down the various seas."

The American President did not reveal the source of the information, saying only it came from a very good source.

President Trump's announcement marks a major victory from him on the foreign policy front, with some of his biggest moves yet stalled.

The Russia-Ukraine peace talks have not progress much, not at least as regards Russia.

He had promised to stop the war on his first day in office, but its more than 100 days since.

Talks with Iran have been slow and the Israel-Hamas war drags on with some hostages still not free.

The Houthis began striking vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023 in support of Hamas and Gaza which had come under attack from Israel in response to the November 9 terrorist attacks.

The Biden administration had struck the Houthis in military action called "defensive action". But the strikes were scaled up considerably by Trump administration.

--IANS

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