Australian Navy Discovers Smuggled Weapons Shipment Destined for Yemen

An Australian Navy ship has discovered and seized a quantity of various weapons destined for Yemen, which are said to have likely been sent by Iran to be accessed by Houthi forces. CNN reported on Monday, March 8, that an Australian Navy vessel detained a fishing boat carrying a collection of various weapons bound for Yemen. The Australian Navy stated that one of its ships, HMAS Darwin, stopped the unflagged fishing vessel while patrolling 275 kilometers from the Sultanate of Oman and discovered a range of weapons, including nearly two thousand AK-47 rifles and one hundred mortars. According to the Australian Navy, these weapons were likely sent by the Islamic Republic of Iran and were intended to be delivered to Houthi militants in Yemen via Somalia. CNN also confirmed the Australian Navy's assessment through a U.S. Navy official. In the Yemeni civil wars, the Houthi Shiites, who make up more than one-third of Yemen's population, are fighting against government forces supported by Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf monarchies, and they control Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. Saudi Arabia is also directly involved in military operations against Houthi positions, bombing the city of Sana'a and other areas under Houthi control with its fighter-bombers. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse the Iranian government of supporting and arming the Houthis, a charge that the Islamic Republic denies. The Australian Defense Ministry spokesperson reported that 18 crew members of the fishing vessel, all of various nationalities, are being interrogated, but the validity of their identification documents and other identity papers has not yet been fully clarified. Australia is part of the so-called 'multinational maritime cooperation' forces composed of several Western naval forces monitoring an area of nearly five million square kilometers of international waters. CNN added, citing a U.S. Navy officer, that these forces had also discovered and seized a similar quantity of weapons from an unflagged fishing vessel about six months ago in September. The report continues that the Islamic Republic of Iran has previously been accused of attempting to send weapons to the Houthis in Yemen, while the United Nations Security Council has imposed arms sanctions on Yemen and Somalia.