A leader of Yemen’s Houthi terrorist group has described his group’s ongoing jihad in the Red Sea as a “spillover” of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, declaring that it will “inevitably bring about the end of US hegemony”. did.
This kind of statement is not the first by the Houthis, but it is clear that the goal of the Houthis’ campaign against the world’s commercial shipping is the destruction of America, not the support of the Palestinian people oppressed by Hamas in Gaza. Made it firm.
The promise to destroy America arrived on Monday in response to targeted airstrikes against Houthi assets in Yemen by President Joe Biden’s administration and the British government. Multiple airstrikes have failed to stop the Red Sea attack, a reality that Mr. Biden recognizes.
On January 18, when asked if the airstrikes were working, Mr. Biden replied: No. Do you want to continue? Yes. “
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Following the first American and British airstrikes, the Houthis said that ships from these countries “are within the scope of their fundamental and inalienable right to defend their homeland and state, and reiterate their firm support for Palestine.” “We have determined that it is a legitimate target for the Yemeni people.” In reality, the Houthis are not limited to attacking vessels that have openly declared their targets.
Mohamed al-Bukaiti, a senior Houthi terrorist from the Houthi Politburo, declared on Monday that subsequent Western airstrikes continued despite Houthi threats and had “rewritten” the rules of engagement with the US and UK. did.
“The ripple effect is [Gaza] “The end of US hegemony throughout the region is inevitable,” Bucaiti said. SaidThis was reported by Iran’s state propaganda agency Press TV.
Another Houthi official, “Intelligence Ministry Advisor” Tawfik al-Hamili, similarly said in January to Russian state broadcaster Sputnik that his group was “preparing a response to permanently end U.S. hegemony.” “There is,” he said.
Press TV reported on Monday that a Houthi “salvation government” had been formed. illegal Political groups in Sana’a issued a statement insisting that terrorists would not stop attacking ships in the area in response to the airstrikes.
“These attacks will never fully negate the Republic of Yemen’s humanitarian and ethical obligations towards the Palestinian people and their cause,” the Houthi foreign ministry said in a statement. The Houthis mistakenly think of themselves as Yemen’s legitimate government, and the Iranian government is indulging in that fantasy.
The Pentagon’s Central Command, which is in charge of Middle East operations, said Saturday it had carried out new airstrikes in Yemen aimed at reducing the Houthis’ ability to fire missiles at nearby ships.central command center claimed The attack successfully destroyed an anti-ship cruise missile deemed to pose an “immediate threat to U.S. Navy vessels and commercial vessels in the region.”American military personnel Confirmed Further airstrikes on Sunday targeted missiles that terrorists could launch at maritime targets.
In response to the airstrike, a Houthi Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: declared On Monday, “The United States is the first and greatest threat to shipping in the Red Sea and the first party to militarize the region.”
“The Yemeni official added that the country’s military will not hesitate to respond to any act of aggression against the homeland,” Press TV reported. The official added the oft-repeated promise that “international shipping companies can safely operate their vessels in the region.”
The Houthi movement, which seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa with Iranian support in 2014, announced its support for Hamas and declared war on Israel in October. On October 7, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people, abducting approximately 250 others, and committing an unprecedented terrorist massacre of torture, gang rape, and desecration of corpses. Hamas supporters in many parts of the Middle East took to the streets in response to this atrocity and condemned Israel’s self-defense efforts in the Gaza Strip.
Houthi official slogan It is “Allah Akbar, death to America, death to Israel, curse to the Jews, victory to Islam.”
Houthi supporters trample on a U.S. flag during a demonstration against the United States in front of the closed U.S. embassy over the decision to designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, Monday, January 18, 2021, in Sanaa, Yemen. Walking (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed).
When the Houthis declared war, spokesman General Yahya Salih said the terrorists had launched “a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles” into Israel in support of “our oppressed brethren in Palestine.” Announced. [sic]” refers to the Hamas-occupied area of Gaza.
“The position of our Yemeni people on the Palestinian cause is fixed and principled, and the Palestinian people have the full right to defend themselves and fully exercise their rights,” Salih said at the time. Stated. “Our forces carried out a mission in support of Gaza and fired ballistic and cruise missiles at enemy targets in the occupied territories.”
Immediately after declaring war, the Houthis took advantage of Yemen’s position in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which leads to the Red Sea, and began attacking commercial shipping. Houthi leaders had claimed they would only attack ships with ties to Israel, but they soon began firing missiles at ships with no clear ties to Israel or its allies, and global shipping giants began targeting ships with no clear ties to Israel or its allies. This led to the change of route to a longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope. In South Africa.
Even attempts to allay the concerns of rogue states allied with Iran have failed to ensure the security that the Houthis continue to promise to unaffiliated parties. In January, Houthi leaders publicly stated that they would not target Chinese or Russian-flagged vessels in the Red Sea, insisting that these countries were not a threat to the group’s movement. In late January, Russia also invited some members of the Houthi terrorist group to Moscow for talks on the situation in the Middle East. Less than a week later, reports emerged that the Houthis had attacked a ship with missiles that was not Russian-flagged but was carrying Russian cargo, petrochemicals important to Moscow’s huge fossil fuel industry. surfaced.
The attack caused container ship traffic through the Red Sea and Suez Canal to drop by 90% from the previous year from January 2023 to 2024, and shipping prices soared. The United Nations reported in late January that cargo volumes passing through the Suez Canal at the northern end of the Red Sea had recorded a 45% drop in two months. Multinational shipping companies such as Maersk have announced major redirections of their ships despite assurances from the Biden administration that the US military will protect civilian ships as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a coalition of allied naval forces.
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