The Yemeni armed forces, affiliated with the Ansarallah group, urged its fighters on Monday to intensify military operations against Israeli and Israel-linked ships as Tel Aviv continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip for nearly seven months.
According to Al-Jazeera, the group urged its forces to escalate its military operations against Israeli and associated ships in the Red and Arabian Seas and the Indian Ocean.
The Ansarallah have been targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea, particularly those bound for Israel, since last fall.
The Ansarallah see the attacks as a way to pressure Israel to halt its attacks on the Gaza Strip and lift the total siege it imposed.
The attacks disrupted international trade on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, prompting the US and UK to launch retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Yemen’s Ansarallah leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi vowed last month to prevent Israeli-linked ships from crossing the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope.
In response to the Ansarallah attack, the United States and Britain, in alliance with a few other countries, have launched military operations against Ansarallah starting on January 11.
The US-led alliance, Prosperity Guardian, says that the airstrikes are aimed at weakening the group’s ability to threaten maritime navigation in the Red Sea.
The US-led attacks, however, are exasperating an already tense situation. Several international shipping companies have been forced to halt operations in the Red Sea or divert their operations to avoid Ansarallah strikes.
Meanwhile, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on March 14 that Ansarallah possesses a strong arsenal, noting that weeks of strikes have not undermined their military capabilities.
Singh added that Washington would continue to carry out strikes against the group, stressing its confidence that their capabilities would continue to be weakened.
Ansarallah is still able to access weapons, capabilities and support from Iran, she alleged, stressing that work will continue to ensure the protection of commercial ships in the Red Sea.
(PC, Anadolu)
