Houthis Display Military Strength in Yemen's Hodeidah amid Drop in US Strikes

A photo of a naval torpedo released by the Houthis, claiming it is among their new weapons. (X platform)
A photo of a naval torpedo released by the Houthis, claiming it is among their new weapons. (X platform)
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Houthis Display Military Strength in Yemen's Hodeidah amid Drop in US Strikes

A photo of a naval torpedo released by the Houthis, claiming it is among their new weapons. (X platform)
A photo of a naval torpedo released by the Houthis, claiming it is among their new weapons. (X platform)

As US-led airstrikes to weaken the Houthis’ capacity to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden decrease, the Iran-backed group displayed its military might in Hodeidah province, claiming to challenge Washington and Yemeni government forces.

The Houthis gathered thousands of fighters for a joint naval and ground exercise, claiming to have new weapons, including torpedoes, mines, unmanned submarines, and boats.

This show of strength comes amid concerns about a potential international military operation to reclaim the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, which is held by the Houthis.

Alongside a naval exercise that the Houthis claim simulates defense against potential landings, the group conducted ground maneuvers in mountainous and desert areas using artillery, drones, tanks, and various machine guns and sniper rifles.

Recent actions by the Houthis, along with statements from their leaders, indicate fears of an upcoming military operation to reclaim Hodeidah and its ports.

This is evident in the significant reinforcements they have sent to the coastal province, which they control, except for the districts of Al-Khokha and Al-Tuhayata, held by the legitimate Yemeni government.

The government has called on the international community in recent months to address the Houthi threats to maritime navigation.

Officials argue that the best way to stop the group’s attacks on ships is to support government forces rather than rely on US-led airstrikes that have been ongoing since January.

Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis have moved large reinforcements from Al-Jawf, Dhamar, Sanaa, and Ibb to Hodeidah.

They have also fortified their positions along the front lines, digging more trenches and laying additional minefields in preparation for any surprise attacks from government forces with international support.

In recent days, US operations against Houthi positions have slowed, allowing the group to carry out extensive maneuvers in Hodeidah without facing airstrikes.

On Oct. 17, Washington used stealth bombers for the first time to target Houthi strongholds in Sanaa and Saada, a move seen as a message primarily aimed at Iran.

The Houthis have reported over 770 Western airstrikes since January 12, part of efforts to curb the group’s ability to attack ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis claim their attacks support the Palestinians in Gaza and, more recently, Hezbollah in Lebanon.

However, the Yemeni government accuses them of furthering Iran’s agenda in the region and avoiding the stalled peace process due to their maritime and regional escalation.

The group alleges it has targeted over 195 vessels in the past year. The Red Sea attacks have led to the sinking of two ships, the hijacking of a third, the deaths of three sailors, and injuries to others.

In recent months, the Houthis have launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, though most have had little effect, except for one drone that killed a person in an apartment in Tel Aviv on July 19.

In response, Israel struck fuel storage facilities in Hodeidah on July 20, killing six people and injuring about 80 others.

Israeli airstrikes continued on September 29, targeting fuel depots in Hodeidah and Ras Isa, as well as two power plants and the city’s airport, which has been inactive for years. These strikes resulted in four deaths and around 30 injuries, according to the Houthis.



Israel Cracks Down on Palestinian Citizens Who Speak out against the War in Gaza

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
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Israel Cracks Down on Palestinian Citizens Who Speak out against the War in Gaza

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

Israel’s yearlong crackdown against Palestinian citizens who speak out against the war in Gaza is prompting many to self-censor out of fear of being jailed and further marginalized in society, while some still find ways to dissent — carefully.
Ahmed Khalefa's life turned upside down after he was charged with inciting terrorism for chanting in solidarity with Gaza at an anti-war protest in October 2023, The Associated Press said.
The lawyer and city counselor from central Israel says he spent three difficult months in jail followed by six months detained in an apartment. It's unclear when he'll get a final verdict on his guilt or innocence. Until then, he's forbidden from leaving his home from dusk to dawn.
Khalefa is one of more than 400 Palestinian citizens of Israel who, since the start of the war in Gaza, have been investigated by police for “incitement to terrorism” or “incitement to violence,” according to Adalah, a legal rights group for minorities. More than half of those investigated were also criminally charged or detained, Adalah said.
“Israel made it clear they see us more as enemies than as citizens,” Khalefa said in an interview at a cafe in his hometown of Umm al-Fahm, Israel's second-largest Palestinian city.
Israel has roughly 2 million Palestinian citizens, whose families remained within the borders of what became Israel in 1948. Among them are Muslims and Christians, and they maintain family and cultural ties to Gaza and the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967.
Israel says its Palestinian citizens enjoy equal rights, including the right to vote, and they are well-represented in many professions. However, Palestinians are widely discriminated against in areas like housing and the job market.
Israeli authorities have opened more incitement cases against Palestinian citizens during the war in Gaza than in the previous five years combined, Adalah's records show. Israeli authorities have not said how many cases ended in convictions and imprisonment. The Justice Ministry said it did not have statistics on those convictions.
Just being charged with incitement to terrorism or identifying with a terrorist group can land a suspect in detention until they're sentenced, under the terms of a 2016 law.
In addition to being charged as criminals, Palestinians citizens of Israel — who make up around 20% of the country’s population — have lost jobs, been suspended from schools and faced police interrogations posting online or demonstrating, activists and rights watchdogs say.
It’s had a chilling effect.
“Anyone who tries to speak out about the war will be imprisoned and harassed in his work and education,” said Oumaya Jabareen, whose son was jailed for eight months after an anti-war protest. “People here are all afraid, afraid to say no to this war.”
Jabareen was among hundreds of Palestinians who filled the streets of Umm al-Fahm earlier this month carrying signs and chanting political slogans. It appeared to be the largest anti-war demonstration in Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. But turnout was low, and Palestinian flags and other national symbols were conspicuously absent. In the years before the war, some protests could draw tens of thousands of Palestinians in Israel.
Authorities tolerated the recent protest march, keeping it under heavily armed supervision. Helicopters flew overhead as police with rifles and tear gas jogged alongside the crowd, which dispersed without incident after two hours. Khalefa said he chose not to attend.
Shortly after the Oct. 7 attack, Israel’s far-right government moved quickly to invigorate a task force that has charged Palestinian citizens of Israel with “supporting terrorism” for posts online or protesting against the war. At around the same time, lawmakers amended a security bill to increase surveillance of online activity by Palestinians in Israel, said Nadim Nashif, director of the digital rights group 7amleh. These moves gave authorities more power to restrict freedom of expression and intensify their arrest campaigns, Nashif said.
The task force is led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, a hard-line national security minister who oversees the police. His office said the task force has monitored thousands of posts allegedly expressing support for terror organizations and that police arrested “hundreds of terror supporters,” including public opinion leaders, social media influencers, religious figures, teachers and others.
“Freedom of speech is not the freedom to incite ... which harms public safety and our security,” his office said in a statement.
But activists and rights groups say the government has expanded its definition of incitement much too far, targeting legitimate opinions that are at the core of freedom of expression.
Myssana Morany, a human rights attorney at Adalah, said Palestinian citizens have been charged for seemingly innocuous things like sending a meme of a captured Israeli tank in Gaza in a private WhatsApp group chat. Another person was charged for posting a collage of children’s photos, captioned in Arabic and English: “Where were the people calling for humanity when we were killed?” The feminist activist group Kayan said over 600 women called its hotline because of blowback in the workplace for speaking out against the war or just mentioning it unfavorably.
Over the summer, around two dozen anti-war protesters in the port city of Haifa were only allowed to finish three chants before police forcefully scattered the gathering into the night. Yet Jewish Israelis demanding a hostage release deal protest regularly — and the largest drew hundreds of thousands to the streets of Tel Aviv.
Khalefa, the city counselor, is not convinced the crackdown on speech will end, even if the war eventually does. He said Israeli prosecutors took issue with slogans that broadly praised resistance and urged Gaza to be strong, but which didn’t mention violence or any militant groups. For that, he said, the government is trying to disbar him, and he faces up to eight years in prison.
“They wanted to show us the price of speaking out,” Khalefa said.