Houthi Leader Pledges Escalation Against “Israel”
Yemen Monitor / Newsroom
On Friday, the leader of the Houthi movement declared that his group would continue to escalate its military operations against the Israeli occupation.
This statement came during a speech in which he mourned Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was martyred during direct confrontations with occupation soldiers in Gaza.
Al-Houthi said, “If the Israeli enemy thinks that the martyrdom of leader Sinwar will lead to the collapse of the great jihad front in the Gaza Strip and break the morale of the fighters, it is deluded.”
He reiterated the commitment to continue his group’s escalatory path in jihadist military operations in the seas, as well as through missile and drone attacks into the depths of occupied Palestine against the Zionist enemy within what he referred to as the “fifth phase” of escalation.
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October, the Houthis have targeted more than 150 commercial ships with missiles and drones. They seized one ship and sank two others in a campaign that also resulted in the deaths of four sailors.
Additionally, coalition forces led by the US have intercepted other missiles and drones in the Red Sea or have failed to reach their targets, which also included Western military vessels.
In response, the US and Britain have been conducting air strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi militants since January 11. As a result of this, the Houthis announced an expansion of their operations to include US and British ships.