Houthis vow to continue pro-Gaza operations despite US strikes

Aden: Yemen’s Houthi militants said that the ongoing US military attacks will not deter their operations in support of Gaza, as tensions in the Red Sea continue to escalate.

In a televised address on Tuesday night marking “National Resilience Day”, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Saudi-led coalition’s initial airstrikes, Mahdi Al Mashat, chairman of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, delivered a defiant message challenging the ongoing US military operations in Yemen.

Al Mashat directly addressed US President Donald Trump, asserting that “the entirety of your presidential term would be insufficient to dissuade us”.

“Your decision to attack our country will not succeed in halting our operations supporting Gaza,” he said.

Al Mashat criticised US foreign policy, describing the military actions against Yemen as “reckless” and lacking legitimacy. He called on the international community to adopt a unified stance against what he termed “American aggression” and “Zionist crimes”.

The Houthi leader emphasised the group’s preparedness to respond to potential attacks, saying they have multiple options to protect their territorial integrity.

The Houthi-controlled media reported that US warplanes conducted 17 airstrikes in the past 24 hours, targeting their strongholds in Saada and Amran provinces in northern Yemen. The Houthis claimed these strikes caused material damage to civilian property, though specific casualty details were not provided, Xinhua news agency reported.

In mid-March, Trump ordered the US military to launch “decisive and powerful military action” against the Houthi militia, after the latter announced their plans to resume attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea, citing Israel’s blockade of aid to the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis on Wednesday said that they had launched fresh attacks on a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea and “military targets” in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

“Our forces launched missile and drone attacks over the past few hours, targeting American warships in the Red Sea, including the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, from which the aggression against our country is launched,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

“The confrontation and engagement continued for several hours,” he said, vowing to confront the ongoing US airstrikes on Houthi-held areas in northern Yemen.

There was no comment yet from the US military.

IANS