The militia that controls much of Yemeni territory, including the capital, Sanaa, reported on February 10 the death of at least 17 of its members during airstrikes led by Washington and London, in response to Houthi attacks on Israeli commercial vessels. or of his allies, in the Red Sea. Iran, an ally of the Houthis, claims that it “never sought” the expansion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the region and that a political solution is the only one that would end the violence in Gaza.
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The war in Gaza continues to increase tensions in the Red Sea, although Iran, a regional power with influence in Yemen, is beginning to distance itself.
This Saturday, the Houthis held a massive public funeral for 17 members of the group who lost their lives in British and American attacks. This event was broadcast by the Saba channel, controlled by the Yemeni rebel group.
“These crimes will not deter the Yemeni people from continuing to support and support their brothers in the Gaza Strip,” said the Saba network in its broadcast of the funerals in Sanaa, where they also added that the focus of the attacks was the port of Hodeida. , where the group has the missile launchers with which it threatens Israel's allied fleets in the Red Sea.
The funerals took place outside the Al-Shaab mosque in Yemen's capital, where thousands of Houthi supporters gathered to say goodbye to the 17 members of the group who died, but also in a show of force in the who once again rejected the situation of civilians in Gaza, under Israeli attack.
“Through these martyrs we convey our message that it is absolutely impossible for us to abandon our position, based on principles and faith, and which forced us to act,” said Abu Moataz Ghalib, a civilian and part of the funeral procession, before the French news agency AFP.
The US would designate the Houthis as a “terrorist group”
For its part, Washington confirmed the intensification of attacks in Yemen, stating that areas controlled by the Houthis represent an “imminent threat” to US military vessels, as well as commercial ships sailing in the region.
“These measures will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer for the US Navy and merchant ships,” said a statement from the US Central Command (CENTCOM), in which it was also revealed that the United States attacked two ships. unmanned Houthi missiles, four anti-ship cruise missile posts and one land-based cruise missile post.
And the tension is increasing. On February 9, the US ambassador to Yemen, Steve Fagin, mentioned that Joe Biden's government would be classifying the Houthi rebels as a “terrorist group” by the end of next week, if attacks against ships do not stop. Western trade in the Red Sea.
“The classification of the Houthis as a terrorist group will come into effect at the end of next week if the militia does not stop its attacks on ships,” the ambassador said in a publication on the X account of the US Embassy in Yemen.
The American and British attacks on Yemen originate in response to the offensive taken by the Houthis against Israeli and allied ships in the Red Sea. Actions that are part of their resistance and armed protest, according to the rebel group, in order to put pressure on Israel and its allies to end hostilities in the Palestinian enclave.
Iran: “War is not the solution”
Although the Iranian Government is a promoter of the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon, two of the points where an expansion of the war in Gaza is feared, the official position is changing to a much more reserved and conciliatory one in relation to the conflict.
On a visit to Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that in recent weeks there has been an extensive “exchange of messages” between Tehran and Washington, in which the latter has asked Iran to stop Hezbollah from enter a full-scale conflict against Israel.
“Iran and Lebanon confirm that war is not the solution, and that we have never sought its expansion at all,” said Amirabdollahian, adding that his government was entering into talks with Saudi Arabia with the aim of achieving a political solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
However, Iran does not let its guard down. During a subsequent conference, together with his Lebanese counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian warned Israel to refrain from entering into a direct confrontation with Lebanon and assured that, to do so, it would be “the last day” of Benjamin Netanyahu as the country's prime minister.
With AFP, Reuters and local media
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