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The Houthi militia, which has attacked civilian and military ships off Yemen's shores at least 50 times since last year, has reportedly struck a deal with China and Russia. This agreement ensures that Chinese and Russian ships will have safe passage in the Red Sea, in exchange for political support from these two permanent UN Security Council members. The deal has been confirmed by CENTCOM, though the Kremlin has denied any knowledge of security guarantees for Russian and Chinese cargo ships in the region. This development comes amid reports that the Houthis, an Iran-backed group targeting Israel/US/UK, have been using revenues from Beijing’s veiled oil purchases to target international waters with missiles and drones, as stated by the top U.S. military official in the region on Thursday. Despite its stance against terrorism, China announced a deal to protect its vessels in the Red Sea in return for political support.