Houthi Political Leadership Urges Armed Forces to Intensify Anti-Israel Naval Operations

The Ansar Allah (Houthi) group called for escalating the military operations against Israeli ships and those associated with Israel in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean.

A statement by the Houthi Supreme Political Office said, "The support of the Palestinian people and their valiant resistance in Gaza" will continue. It added, "If it were not for American and Western support, the shameful Arab silence, and the international inability, the Zionist crime against the Palestinian people would not have occurred."

Last week, Yemen's Houthi group said it had targeted 98 Israeli, U.S., and British ships in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean since November 2023. The leader of Yemen's Houthi movement, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, said, "We affirm to the Americans, the British, and everyone else that no one can ever stop our supportive operations for Gaza."

The Houthis have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea since November last year. They say the attacks intended to pressure Israel to stop its war on the Gaza Strip, where more than 34,000 people have been killed since October.

The Houthi attacks on shipping lanes prompted retaliatory strikes by the U.S. and Britain since January. In a statement today,  Tim Lenderking, the U.S. special envoy to Yemen, said the strikes are focused on neutralizing the Houthi threat to maritime security.

He called the Houthi attacks "risky and indiscriminate and reckless behavior". He added, "This goes far beyond any sort of linkage with the crisis in Gaza … this is very quickly eroding any sort of goodwill or support that the Houthis have had in the international community, in the Security Council, among the [five permanent members of the council]."

Meanwhile, the head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, called for the international community to play a role in countering Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons to the Houthi group.

During Al-Alimi's meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, in Riyadh on Monday, the Houthi attacks on vessels had severe consequences on the living conditions of Yemenis, the people in the region, and their national economies.