US-UK naval fleet ‘legitimate’ target for Yemenis, warns Ansarullah

A senior official of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement has warned that the American and British naval fleet will be a “legitimate” target for the country’s armed forces following a wave of attack on Yemen in response to anti-Israeli strikes.

Mohammad al-Bakhiti, a member of Ansarullah’s politburo, made the warning in an interview with Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Manar television channel following deadly strikes by the American and British warplanes on several Yemeni provinces.

He stressed that Yemen has entered a new stage of direct confrontation with the United States and Britain.

“The American and British naval fleet will be the legitimate target of the Yemeni forces after changing their strategic approach. The US, along with the Zionist enemy, is involved in the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip, and the battle is now between truth and falsehood.”

The Ansarullah official said, “Yemen and Lebanon’s support for Palestine caused fears to be shattered and the US’s claims to fall flat. We are facing major changes in the region and the Arab governments must prepare themselves for popular changes in the future.”

Bakhiti also warned Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against any involvement in the US-led escalation in the strategic Red Sea.

“If Saudi Arabia and the UAE directly involve in aggression against Yemen, we will target their vital centers. The apparent neutrality of Saudi Arabia towards aggression against Yemen is the result of the fear from Yemen’s reaction,” he underlined.

Early on Friday, the American and British warplanes targeted with 73 missiles five regions of Yemen, including the capital Sana’a and the provinces of Hudaydah, Ta’izz, Hajjah, and Sa’ada, killing at least five people and wounding six others.

On Saturday morning, the US military claimed to have conducted a new attack against a radar site that belonged to Ansarullah resistance movement in the capital Sana’a.

‘Enemies lined up in crosshairs’

Mohammad Nasser al-Atefi, the Yemeni National Salvation Government’s Defense Minister, underscored Sana’a’s readiness to deter and respond to any Western aggression and said Yemen has the “upper hand” in the Red and Arabian Sea.

“As long as the war against the people of Gaza continues, we have surprises and they will happen at the appropriate time specified by our leader,” Atefi said, adding, “We advise you to leave the region and do not make false excuses and justifications. Our hands are on the trigger and our spirit is harder than steel.”

Underlining that the Red Sea is “forbidden” for the Zionist regime, the defense minister said, “We only target Israeli ships or ships supporting it or bound for this regime. We assure international ships crossing the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea that they will not be harmed.”

The Yemeni Armed Forces have vowed that the any “criminal aggression” by the US and UK against their country will not go “unanswered and unpunished.”

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 23,357 people, most of them women and children. Another 59,410 individuals have been wounded.