Yemen announces resumption of military operations targeting Israeli vessels in key maritime regions off its coastline following the expiration of a deadline for the Israeli regime to reopen the Gaza Strip’s crossings and allow aid into the war-wrecked and impoverished Palestinian territory.
The Yemeni Armed Forces issued the announcement on Wednesday, saying the strikes would resume as per a relevant decree issued by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of the country’s Ansarullah resistance movement.
The Ansarullah leader had given the regime four days before reopening the crossings that Tel Aviv has shut down as a means of trying to force the Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas into releasing the rest of the Zionist captives that it holds in the coastal sliver.
The shutdown is also meant to mount immense pressure on the Palestinians in Gaza, who have already been suffering under a 15-month-plus war of genocide by Tel Aviv.
“With mediators failing to achieve these objectives (having the regime reopen the terminals and let in aid supplies), Yemen has escalated its stance in support of the Palestinian people,” the Armed Forces’ statement noted.
“Effective immediately, all Israeli ships are prohibited from navigating the designated operational zones, encompassing the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden,” they noted.
The forces warned that any Israeli vessels attempting to breach the ban would be targeted within the specified areas of operation.
“This prohibition will remain until the crossings into the Gaza Strip are reopened and humanitarian aid, including essential food and medicine, is permitted entry,” the statement read.
The forces finally reiterated solidarity with the resilient Palestinian population in both the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, which has similarly come under escalated deadly Israeli aggression, reaffirming their “unwavering support for the Palestinian resistance.”
Yemeni officials, including al-Houthi himself, had, upon issuing the deadline, emphasized that the Yemeni troops were fully prepared to reinitiate operations against the regime if humanitarian aid was not allowed into Gaza.
The Yemeni forces began taking Israeli ships and the vessels carrying supplies to the occupied Palestinian territories via the waters off the Arab Peninsula country, under missile and drone strikes after October 7, 2023, when the regime launched the war.
The operations took serious toll on the Israeli economy, contributing to meaningful price increases across commodities consumed by the regime’s illegal settlers.
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