Yemen's Houthi Group Wows to Retaliate for US-British Airstrikes
Yemen's Ansar Allah (Houthi) group said Sunday that it will launch retaliatory attacks for the U.S.-British airstrikes on six Yemeni provinces in North Yemen. "U.S.-British coalition airstrikes will not deter us from our support to Palestinian people in Gaza and will not pass without response and punishment," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement today. "The American-British aggression launched 48 airstrikes during the past hours, including 13 on the capital Sanaa, nine on Hodeidah, 11 on Taiz, seven on al-Bayda, seven on Hajjah, and one on Saada," he said without giving details on casualties. The Houthis say their attacks intend to help push Israel to end its war on Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is using a land route for the import of goods through the Gulf and across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Jordan to Israel to bypass the shipping route through the Red Sea blockaded by Yemen's Houthis. Following the start of Israel's ongoing bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip, Yemen's Houthis launched numerous attacks on ships on their way to Israel through the Red Sea, seizing them and significantly impacting global trade passing through those vital shipping lines. Israel was reported back in December to have been planning a land route stretching from the east of the Arabian Peninsula to Israel as an alternative route that could potentially cut the costs and length of time for transporting goods.
Iran has issued a warning to the US over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Middle East long suspected of serving as forwarding operating bases for Iranian commandos, just after America and Britain launched a massive air strike campaign against Yemen's Houthi rebels. The statement from Iran on the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran's growing unease over the US strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic. The Behshad and Saviz are registered as commercial cargo ships with a Tehran-based company the US Treasury has sanctioned as a front for the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
Palestinian fighters kept up attacks against Israeli forces on Sunday in the Gaza Strip's two main cities, weeks after they were overrun by troops and tanks, in a sign Hamas still maintains some control ahead of any potential truce. Scores were reported killed in overnight strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday after Hamas said it needed more time to consider a proposal that would halt its war with Israel in the besieged Palestinian territory. Gaza's health ministry said early Sunday that at least 92 people had been killed overnight in an Israeli bombardment of a kindergarten in Rafah where displaced people were sheltering. The health ministry in Gaza said Sunday at least 27,365 people have been killed in the territory during the war between Palestinian militants and Israel.
