CAIRO: The leader of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, said on Thursday his group will monitor the implementation of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas aimed at ending the 15-month war in Gaza and continue its attacks if it is breached.
The Houthis, who had on an almost weekly basis targeted ships using ballistic missiles and drones in waters near Yemen’s shores to show their solidarity with the Palestinians, had long said they would cease these operations if the conflict ended.
The attacks, which started in Nov. 2023, have disrupted international commerce, forcing some ships to take the long route around southern Africa rather than the Suez Canal, leading to an increase in insurance rates, delivery costs and time that stoked fears of a new bout of global inflation.
The Houthis, who control most parts of Yemen including the capital Sanaa since seizing power in late 2014, have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least four seafarers.
The armed group has also launched missiles and drones toward Israel, hundreds of kilometers to the north. Israel responded by striking Houthi areas on several occasions, including last week when Israeli warplanes bombed two ports and a power station.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month Israel was only at the beginning of its campaign against the Houthis.
The United States alongside Britain launched in Dec. 2023 a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea and have repeatedly conducted air strikes on Houthi strongholds targeting weapons storage facilities.
The EU later in February launched its own Red Sea mission, known as Aspides, to help deter intensified Houthi attacks and help protect the key maritime trade route.
The Houthis appear to be the latest standing component of Iran’s anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias, known as the Axis of Resistance, which also includes Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Shiite armed groups in Iraq.
Israel has dealt serious blows to Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, killing their top leaders and reducing their arsenals. In the aftermath, the decades-long regime of Bashar Assad in Syria was also toppled.
Yemen’s Houthis to continue attacks if Gaza ceasefire breached
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Yemen’s Houthis to continue attacks if Gaza ceasefire breached
- The Houthis' attacks since Nov. 2023 forced some ships to take the long route around southern Africa rather than the Suez Canal
- The armed group has also launched missiles and drones toward Israel
Israel army issues new evacuation warnings in Lebanon
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on Tuesday, including a warning for residents in two southern Beirut neighborhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of imminent military action.
“Urgent warning to the residents of Lebanon, specifically in the villages which names are shown. For your safety you must evacuate your homes immediately,” said a statement by the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee on Telegram, which listed 50 locations.
Many of the locations were across the south of Lebanon, which Israel regularly targets with the aim of hitting Hezbollah infrastructure.
“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will operate in the near future,” he told the residents of southern Beirut neighborhoods Ghobeiry and Haret Hreik in another evacuation warning.
Lebanon’s government on Monday took the unprecedented step of banning Hezbollah’s military and security activity, prompting the Iran-backed group to lash out at the decision.
Hezbollah is represented in both the government and parliament, and the move came hours after it announced it had launched rockets and drones toward Israel early Monday to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks.
Israel bombarded Beirut’s southern suburbs and dozens of villages in south Lebanon on Monday in response, vowing to make the group pay a “heavy price.”
The Lebanese health ministry said the strikes killed at least 31 people and wounded at least 149.
