(Sanaa) Yemen’s Houthi rebels have attacked nearly 100 Israeli “enemy-linked” ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the start of their operations in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, said Thursday their leader.
In a speech broadcast by Al-Masirah television, controlled by his movement, Abdel Malek al-Houthi reported new attacks against eight ships, adding that “the total of ships linked to the enemy targeted by attacks reached the 98”.
The attacks had a “great effect and were a success”, he assured, telling the United States and the United Kingdom that “no one can prevent us from carrying out our operations to support the Palestinians in Gaza.”
According to him, Israel and its allies “have no choice but to end the blockade and aggression in Gaza” to stop rebel attacks on merchant shipping.
The leader of the Yemeni rebels also welcomed the Iranian attack carried out last weekend against Israel. “The response was vigorous both quantitatively and qualitatively, and it came from Iranian territory,” he said.
In the context of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have been carrying out attacks since November in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where 12% of world trade passes.
First saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel, they then broadened their targets to ships associated with the United States and the United Kingdom, in retaliation for the strikes carried out from January by Washington and London against their positions in Yemen.
These attacks have driven up insurance costs for ships transiting the Red Sea and led many shipping companies to prefer the much longer passage around the southern tip of the African continent.
Israel’s main ally, Washington set up a multinational coalition in December to “protect” maritime traffic without managing to stop the attacks.