Yemen warns retaliatory strikes will expand if Israeli genocide in Gaza persists
A senior member of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement says the country’s armed forces will expand the scope of their military operations to target installations deep inside the Israeli-occupied territories if the regime forges ahead with its genocidal war on Gaza.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah’s political bureau made the remarks late on Saturday, stressing that the Zionist regime is trying its hardest to obscure the extent of damage caused as a result of Yemeni offensives.
“We managed to completely suspend the shipping route to Israel through the Red Sea,” Bukhaiti noted.
His comments came only a few hours after the Yemeni Armed Forces said they had launched a large-scale drone strike against “sensitive” targets in the occupied territories in a show of support for Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“A large squadron of unmanned aerial vehicles carried out a military operation against sensitive targets in the Umm al-Rashrash area [of the Port of Eilat] in the southern sector of the occupied lands.”
The statement added that the drone strike came in line with the guidelines of the leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, and in response to calls made by the freedom-loving Yemeni nation as well as the people of other Muslim countries.
It further underscored that Yemeni army units “will continue offensives against the Zionist regime until it stops aggression against their steadfast Palestinian brethren in the Gaza Strip.”
‘Negotiations underway with Yemen to stop attacks on Israeli ships’
Meanwhile, Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said negotiations are underway between representatives of the Sana’a-based National Salvation Government and delegates from international institutions regarding Yemeni operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
He noted that the talks are being conducted under the aegis of neighboring Oman.
“We have already declared that Yemeni operations are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. We cannot stand idly by in the face of attacks on the Gaza Strip, the crippling siege, and the complete ban on the entry of foodstuff, medicine and even drinking water into the territory. The Zionist regime is hell-bent on cutting off Gaza from the outside world,” Abdul-Salam said.
He added that meetings are being held between the two sides, emphasizing that Yemen’s stance on the Palestinian cause and resistance front is “non-negotiable”.
The Ansarullah spokesman went on to state that Israeli-owned ships as well as vessels heading towards Israeli ports will be the legitimate targets of Yemeni forces as long as the vicious aggression continues, the Gaza blockade remains in effect and humanitarian aid convoys do not enter the region en masse.
“Any move which would complicate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and obstruct the entry of food and medicine into Gaza will inevitably mount tensions,” Abdul-Salam highlighted.
Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.
The relentless Israeli military campaign against Gaza has killed at least 18,800 people, including 6,200 women and 8,000 children, in Gaza since. Another 51,000 individuals have been wounded as well.
Reports revealed that Israeli shipping companies have already decided to reroute their vessels in fear of attacks by Yemeni forces.
Yemeni forces have also launched missile and drone attacks on targets in the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine after the occupying regime’s aggression on Gaza.
