Sputnik
The Yemeni militia has escalated its campaign against Israel in stages, seizing and targeting merchant ships off the Yemeni coast, firing long-range ballistic missiles at the Israeli Red Sea port city of Eilat, and, most recently, slamming a heavy drone into a building in downtown Tel Aviv about 100 meters from the US consulate.
Yemen is entering a “new stage” of its war with Israel, and is asking Arab and Muslim countries to unite to help wage it, Houthi political bureau member Ali al-Qahoum has told Sputnik.
“Yemen and its leader are entering a new stage of conflict, new alliances are being created that do not have red lines,” Al-Qahoum said.
“As long as Israel exists, there will be no peace – this is an existential battle.
It is time to unite Arabs and Muslims, use their opportunities and stand together in this battle to preserve the identity of Islam and Arabism in the face of the challenges, dangers and projects of the Great Satan represented by America and Israel,” the official said, using the derogatory epithet originating from the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and typically referring to the United States.
Al-Qahoum’s language signals a marked escalation in the militia’s position, which at the beginning of its Red Sea semi-blockade and missile attacks on Israel last October and November was aimed at “standing in solidarity” with Palestinians with a view to stopping the now more than nine-month old war in Gaza.
The Houthi political bureau member has not shied away from using increasingly sharp rhetoric in interviews in recent months, warning Washington in January that Yemen would become America’s “graveyard” and that the US would be forced to “leave the region in humiliation” after the US and British navies launched a campaign of air and missile strikes inside Yemen.
Tensions between the Houthis and Israel escalated dramatically over the past week after the militia flew a long-range airplane-style combat drone into Tel Aviv on July 19, evading Israel’s powerful air defenses in an incident the IDF attributed to “human error.” One person was killed in the attack, and seven were injured.
The Houthis have vowed to respond to the tit-for-tat escalation, with Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam, saying last week that Israel’s “brutal aggression will only increase the determination and steadfastness of the Yemeni people and their brave armed forces, continuing and escalating their support for Gaza.”
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