Houthi Leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi expressed his happiness on Monday at the direct confrontation with Tel Aviv, as the huge fire resulting from the Israeli raids on fuel tanks in the port of Hodeidah lasted for many hours, with the death toll rising to six persons.
The Houthi group claimed responsibility for launching missiles towards Israel on Sunday and attacking a ship in the Red Sea without causing damage.
On Saturday, the Israeli army targeted fuel tanks in the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah and its power station, a day after a drone explosion targeted Tel Aviv, killing one person and wounding others.
Israel’s military said it had intercepted a surface-to-surface missile headed for the town of Eilat early on Sunday. Yemen’s Houthi militants later confirmed they had targeted the city with multiple ballistic missiles to avenge Israeli air strikes on the Yemeni port the day before.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Houthis expressed his group’s happiness at the direct confrontation with Israel, the United States and Britain. He vowed to continue the attacks against ships and Israel, and announced that the strike on Tel Aviv on Friday was the beginning of the fifth stage of the escalation.
Al-Houthi also downplayed the magnitude of the Israeli attack on the port of Hodeidah, stressing that his group would continue its operations, and that any other strikes would not have any impact on its military capabilities.
In parallel, an official source in the Yemeni government strongly condemned the Israeli bombing of Hodeidah, calling it “aggression” of Yemeni sovereignty, and “a clear violation of all international laws and norms.”
The source also warned the Iranian regime and Israel against attempts to turn Yemeni lands, through the Houthis, into an arena for their senseless wars.
While the Yemeni government renewed its support of the Palestinian people and their right to establish their independent state, it stressed that the only way to achieve peace in Yemen was to back the government’s control over the entire national territory, and implement the resolutions of international legitimacy, especially Resolution 2216.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern over Israel’s airstrikes on Saturday in and around the port of Hodeidah in Yemen.
Guterres called on all parties to “avoid attacks that could harm civilians and damage civilian infrastructure.”
In a statement, the secretary-general said that he “remains deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation in the region and continues to urge all to exercise utmost restraint.”
