“Target”
Houthi rebels want to attack Israel’s ships
November 15, 2023, 8:21 a.m
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After Israel intercepted several Houthis rockets in the Red Sea area, the Shiite rebels announced further actions. Their leader is openly threatening to track down and attack the Israeli army’s disguised ships in the strait between Yemen and Djibouti.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels based in Yemen have threatened Israel with attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Shiite rebels would “search and control” Israeli ships and “will not hesitate to target them,” said rebel leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi on the group’s Al-Massira television channel. The Houthi rebels had fired drones at Israel several times since the beginning of Israel’s military response to the major attack by the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas.
The Houthi rebels’ eyes are “open to constantly look for and search for any Israeli ships,” their leader al-Houthi said. Israel camouflages its ships when traveling through the Red Sea, particularly when crossing the Bab al-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti, which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. The Bab al-Mandeb Strait is of great importance for global maritime trade, especially for the transport of petroleum.
Israel’s army said it intercepted another rocket in the Red Sea area. The military said the missile was intercepted by the Arrow air defense system outside Israel. It is still unclear who is responsible for the shooting.
The Houthi rebels have been in a civil war with the international government of Yemen for years and have controlled the Yemeni capital Sanaa since 2014. The rebels see themselves as part of the self-proclaimed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel, which also includes other Iranian-backed groups such as Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
The Jewish state as arch enemy
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Houthi rebels say they have fired drones and rockets at Israel several times. These attacks would continue, al-Houthi said in his speech. The Houthis have significantly expanded their weapons arsenal in recent years.
Iran has long denied arming the Houthis, although it has shipped rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, rockets and other weapons to Yemen by sea. However, independent experts, Western countries and United Nations experts have been able to attribute components seized from stopped ships to Iran.
A UN arms embargo has banned arms sales to the Houthi rebels since 2014, when Yemen’s civil war began. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Jewish state has been considered Iran’s archenemy. Tehran has been expanding its political and military ties in the region since the 1990s.