AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed to have fired three cruise missiles at Israel, as thousands of Houthi supporters marched through Sanaa to show their support for Iran’s missile barrage against Israel.
In a televised statement, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on Wednesday that their missile forces fired three Quds 5 cruise missiles at “vital targets” inside Israel in support of the people of Palestine and Lebanon against Israel.
He said the missiles hit their targets, vowing to carry out more missile and drone attacks on Israel until it ends its war in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military told CNN that the army was “unaware” of the missile attacks launched from Yemen.
Sarea expressed the militia’s support for Iran’s missile attack on Israel and stated that they would participate in any retaliatory military responses by Palestinian and Lebanese groups against Israel.
This comes as hundreds of Houthi supporters gathered in Sanaa’s streets on Tuesday to express their support for Iran’s missile strike on Israel, shortly after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel.
Supporters of the Houthis raised the Hezbollah flag and a picture of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, chanting, “Oh Iran, my dear … strike, strike Tel Aviv.”
The Houthis are part of the Axis of Resistance, which consists of Iran-backed armed groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Yemeni government and others have accused Hezbollah of sending military experts and Iran-made weapons to Yemen to support the Houthis, as well as training Houthi fighters over the last decade and harboring Houthi figures in the group’s stronghold in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.
At the same time, Mwatana for Human Rights condemned on Wednesday Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s western city of Hodeidah, saying that approximately 20 airstrikes by Israeli warplanes “totally” destroyed three power stations in Hodeidah, as well as fuel tanks at Ras Issa Port on Sunday.
The airstrikes left thousands of residents of the humid and hot city without power and forced health facilities such as neonatal units and dialysis centers to suspend operations, causing chaos in the city and panic buying of gas and fuel, Mwatana said.
“The Israeli fighter jets’ targeting of civilian infrastructure in Yemen underscores their pattern of attacking essential resources for civilians. This assault exacerbates the suffering of hundreds of thousands in Al-Hodeidah and other governorates,” Mwatana’s Chairwoman Radhya Al-Mutawakel said in a statement.
At the same time, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said on Tuesday that the Hodeidah and Ras Issa ports, which were targeted by Israeli warplanes, are still operational and capable of handling ships and that the UN has provided fuel to health facilities to keep their power generators operational.
“Power stations throughout Hodeidah city are, however, running at a very limited capacity. We are distributing fuel to health facilities to keep their generators going so they continue to provide health services to those who need it,” Dujarric said in a press briefing in New York.
Meanwhile, the Houthis released Abdu Mused Al-Mudani, a journalist, and Ahmed Saleh Al-Jabli, an activist, who were among more than 400 Yemenis abducted by the Houthis in recent weeks for commemorating the 1962 revolution, Yemeni activists and local media reported Wednesday.
Al-Mudani was released a day after the Yemeni Journalist Syndicate said that he was transferred to an intensive care unit at a Sanaa hospital after his health deteriorated due to mistreatment by his Houthi captors and poor conditions at the detention facility.
