Leaders of the Iran-backed Yemeni terrorist group Ansarullah, also known as the Houthis, on Tuesday threatened unnamed Arab countries with an “answer” to their alleged collaboration with neighboring Israel, part of a broader bellicose statement promising “unprecedented” attacks against Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked Houthi positions in Yemen for the first time this weekend, following terrorist bombings of residential areas in Tel Aviv, marking a significant escalation in the conflict between the country and the terrorists. The Houthis claim to be the Yemeni government, but are a rogue terrorist organization that ousted the legitimate government from the capital, Sanaa, as part of the civil war that began in 2014. Houthi leaders have been bombing Yemen for years in retaliation for neighboring Saudi Arabia’s support for the legitimate Yemeni government, but active hostilities have been suspended since the two sides reached an agreement. carried out Peace talks will be successful in September 2023.
The Houthis declared war on Israel a month later in retaliation for Iranian-backed Hamas Brotherhood terrorists invading Israel and massacring 1,200 civilians, as well as committing a range of atrocities, including gang rape, torture, kidnapping and the murder of young children. The IDF has since been embroiled in a self-defense operation in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza, which the Houthis and other jihadist terrorists claim is a “genocide” against Palestinians used as human shields by Hamas terrorists.
Before the Tel Aviv bombing, the Houthi war against Israel had focused on attacks on random merchant ships sailing near the Red Sea. Claimed More than 70 ships have been attacked in the Red Sea region since November, many with no apparent ties to the three countries Houthi leaders have pledged to attack — Israel, the US or Britain — and some owned, operated or carried cargo linked to Houthi allies, including Iran, Russia and China.
Houthi leaders on Tuesday declared an escalation of terrorist acts, primarily against Israel but also against Arab countries they consider too friendly to Israel.
“The Zionist enemy has opened the gates of hell by targeting Yemen’s port of Hodeidah. The port, military and security center deep inside the occupied Palestinian territory will come under attack by Yemeni forces,” Houthi “political bureau” member Hezam al-Assad told Iranian propaganda media on Tuesday. Press TVThe Israeli attack on Tel Aviv was carried out in the port city of Hodeidah, also known as Hodeidah, which the Houthis control and use to import weapons and attack commercial ships.
President Assad did not limit his threats against Israel.
“Some Arab countries have crossed the line by opening a land route instead of the Red Sea, opening their airspace and supporting the Zionist enemy by calling the Hamas movement terrorists,” the Houthi official said, translated by Press TV. “We warn them that the answer is coming soon.”
Press TV quoted another Houthi leader, Ali al-Khahoum, as promising a “surprise” next week and suggesting the Houthis could bomb “large swaths of occupied Palestine” – an imprecise term the jihadists use to refer to Israeli territory.
“Your options are to either migrate and return to your places of origin or remain in the shelters,” Al-Khahoum told the Israelis. “The protection of the US and Britain will not help you and they will be cut off from violating Yemen’s sovereignty and attacking its resources and people.”
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Friday that a modified Iranian drone was used in a Houthi attack on Tel Aviv, striking a residential area and killing one civilian and wounding eight. The drone evaded detection and landed in the area without any warning systems being set off to warn civilians to evacuate. IDF leaders promised a “thorough investigation” into what happened to prevent any alarms from being sounded. report By The Israel Times He said that despite the drone being visible on radar systems, a warning siren did not sound due to “human error.”
At least one civilian was killed and many injured after a residential building in central Tel Aviv was attacked by an Iranian drone launched from Yemen.
We will continue to work to better protect Israelis from terrorism on all fronts. pic.twitter.com/SqGdcDRVT7
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 19, 2024
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strikes on Hodeida on Saturday.
“A short time ago, IDF warplanes struck military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime near Yemen’s port of Al Hudaydah in retaliation for hundreds of attacks carried out against the State of Israel in recent months,” the IDF said in a statement. But IDF spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari asserted that Israel does not want war with Yemen, saying: “Yemen is a big country. The Houthis control only part of it.”
Neighboring Arab countries, particularly Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, have sought to avoid becoming major players in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, but all have condemned the IDF’s operations in Gaza in some form. However, Bahrain and the UAE have normalized relations with Israel as a result of the “Abraham Accords,” brokered under the initiative of the administration of former President Donald Trump. Saudi Arabia has reportedly been pursuing some form of diplomatic stabilization with Israel behind closed doors, and was reportedly close to normalizing relations as early as September 2023.
In a statement carried by Israeli state broadcaster KAN in April, an anonymous Saudi official complained that Iran, through Hamas, had “orchestrated the war in Gaza to destroy progress between Jerusalem and Riyadh.”
“Iran’s actions are irresponsible. Everyone knows Iran is a country that supports terrorism. It should have been stopped long ago,” the Saudi official lamented.
Saudi Arabia has condemned Israel’s operation in self-defense, but the Houthis have repeatedly threatened to resume attacks on Saudi territory since declaring war on Israel.
“We have sent a message to Saudi Arabia that it will be a target. [for Yemen’s retaliatory strikes] “Iran can retaliate if it allows US military aircraft to use its territory and airspace to invade Yemen,” Houthi supreme leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said in March.
In May, Houthi supreme leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi condemned unnamed Arab countries for trying to “negotiate a security agreement with the US for protection,” calling such a move “astonishing.”
“We have no enmity towards any Arab country, but we will not accept Arab regimes that serve Israel and submit to America to harm our people,” the Houthis said more bluntly in June. “Any attitude taken by the Saudis towards our people at this time is clearly in the service of the enemy, Israel, and in submission to America and in support of it.”
