Senior Houthi official Hazam al-Assad denied in an interview with Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the report published yesterday by Reuters news agency, according to which the Houthis are considering imposing fees on the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The senior Houthi official said they have no intention to impose passage fees on the strait and that their activity in the Red Sea is "limited only to blocking Saudi shipping." He added that "the ban on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden will continue until the siege on Yemen is lifted." According to him, the Houthis have "a variety of military options for escalation that would cause Saudi Arabia to pursue peace and lift the siege from the Yemeni people."