US naval commander discusses maritime security with GCC head

Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Al-Hajraf, yesterday met with Commander of the US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), Lieutenant-General Charles Cooper, to discuss ways of strengthening the security and safety of waterways and marine navigation in the region.

The meeting came after Yemen’s Houthis seized a UAE flagged- ship on Sunday evening near the port city of Hudaydah.

The GCC General Secretariat said in a statement that Al-Hajraf and Cooper discussed areas of joint cooperation and the importance of enhancing the security of waterways and ensuring freedom and safety of navigation in the Gulf.

On Monday, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis, Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki, said the cargo ship, the Rawabi, had been transporting a Saudi field hospital from Yemen’s Socotra Island in the Indian Ocean to Jizan in the south of the kingdom when the Houthis seized it.

Al-Malki said the cargo included ambulances, medical and communications equipment, tents, a field kitchen, and laundry, as well as technical and security support equipment.

READ: Arab states condemn Houthis’ seizure of UAE-flagged ship