DUBAI: The leader of Yemen’s Houthis said Thursday that retaliation for an Israeli strike on a port under the control of the Iran-backed militants was inevitable.
The vow added to regional tensions that have soared after Iran vowed reprisals against Israel for the high-profile killings of two Tehran-allied militant leaders last week.
A response to Israel’s July 20 attack that targeted fuel storage tanks in Hodeida harbor is “inevitable and will come,” Abdul Malik Al-Houthi said in a televised speech.
The battle with Israel was “at its zenith,” the militant chief added.
The Houthis are fighting Israel as part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance,” which includes militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
The delayed response by the Houthis and Iran’s regional allies to Israel’s latest moves was “purely tactical,” the militant chief said.
“The aim is a genuinely impactful response” in light of preemptive defense measures taken by Israel and its American backers, he added.
“The decision to respond is a decision made by everyone; at the level of the entire axis,” he said.
The Hodeida strike was the first claimed by Israel on the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.
It came a day after the Houthis launched their first fatal strike on Israel — a drone attack in Tel Aviv that killed an Israeli civilian.
The Israeli response decimated the port’s fuel storage capacity and killed at least nine people, according to the militants.
Since November, the Houthis have launched a flurry of missile and drone strikes on Israel-linked shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
They say the campaign that has disrupted maritime traffic is intended to signal solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war.
“The decrease in maritime traffic is a great victory,” the Houthi leader said, adding that a total of 177 vessels had been targeted.
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Yemen’s Houthis say retaliation for Israel port strike ‘inevitable’
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Yemen’s Houthis say retaliation for Israel port strike ‘inevitable’
- The battle with Israel was “at its zenith,” the militant chief added.
- The Houthis are fighting Israel as part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance,” which includes militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon
Thirty four Australians released from Syrian camp holding Daesh affiliated families
ROJ CAMP: Syrian Kurdish forces on Monday released 34 Australians from a camp holding families of suspected Daesh militants in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus.
Hukmiya Mohamed, a co-director of Roj camp, told Reuters that the 34 Australians had been released to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. They were put on small buses for Damascus.
Roj camp holds more than 2,000 people from 40 different nationalities, the majority of them women and children.
Thousands of people believed to be linked to Daesh militants have been held at Roj and a second camp, Al-Hol, since the militant group was driven from its final territorial foothold in Syria in 2019.
Syrian government forces seized swathes of northern Syria from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in January, before agreeing a ceasefire on January 29.
The US military last week completed a mission to transfer 5,700 adult male Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq.
Hukmiya Mohamed, a co-director of Roj camp, told Reuters that the 34 Australians had been released to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. They were put on small buses for Damascus.
Roj camp holds more than 2,000 people from 40 different nationalities, the majority of them women and children.
Thousands of people believed to be linked to Daesh militants have been held at Roj and a second camp, Al-Hol, since the militant group was driven from its final territorial foothold in Syria in 2019.
Syrian government forces seized swathes of northern Syria from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in January, before agreeing a ceasefire on January 29.
The US military last week completed a mission to transfer 5,700 adult male Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq.
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