Yemenis stage mass rallies against Israeli war on Gaza, voice solitary with Palestinians
Thousands of people have staged mass demonstrations in Yemen to express firm solidarity with Palestinians amidst Israeli attacks on Gaza, calling on the country’s military to step up anti-Israeli operation in the Red Sea and respond to US-British aggression.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators took to the streets in the capital Sana’a, the northwestern city of Sa’ada and elsewhere in the country on Friday, denouncing relentless Israeli ground and aerial offensives against Palestinians in the coastal territory.
“The Yemeni nation stands by Gazans in the face of their massacre and starvation at the hands of Israeli occupation forces, and will continue to carry out retaliatory operations tirelessly,” read the final communiqué issued by the protesters.
“We denounce the subservience of Arab states to the US administration, and condemn such an approach as complicity in the Zionist enemy’s atrocities in Gaza,” it added.
The participants hailed Yemeni naval forces for operations against Israeli-affiliated commercial vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians. They also lauded attacks on US and British ships, citing their pro-Israel strikes against Yemen.
They called upon the Yemeni Armed Forces to raise the ante and conduct more operations amid the massacre and starvation taking place in Gaza.
“We urge Arab and Muslim nations to boycott American and Israeli goods and the companies that support them as an Islamic duty towards Gaza and Palestine,” the statement also read.
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 the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have said they won’t stop retaliatory strikes.
Yemen’s ruling Ansarullah says its Red Sea attacks will only stop after Israel ends its aggression on Gaza.
The maritime attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.
Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.
