[News] New Alliances and Military Strength Surge Amid Yemen's Unwavering Support for Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

mintpressnews.com
<https://www.mintpressnews.com/new-alliances-military-strength-surge-yemen-support-gaza/287094/>
New Alliances and Military Strength Surge Amid Yemen's Unwavering Support
for Gaza
March 22, 2024
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[image: AP24039557496600_edited.jpg]

In his traditional Tuhamian clothing, Ali, a Yemeni fisherman from the
coastal city of Hodeidah, stands in a gathering of thousands of Yemenis and
chants, “With you, with you, O Al-Qassam Brigades… until victory or
martyrdom.”

Ali told MintPress News that with the beginning of the holy month of
Ramadan, he feels the suffering of his brothers in Gaza more than ever, so
he decided to participate in today’s demonstration for the first time out
of sympathy with Gaza and in rejection of what he described as the hideous
practices carried out by the invaders in the Red Sea against fishermen.

At the beginning of Ramadan, he quit fishing in Yemen’s territorial waters
for fear of his life. “Since the scary ships came, whoever goes out to fish
will be killed or arrested, and whoever survives will not return with
enough fish.”

Ali, a member of the Al-Hammadi family, who depend on fishing as their only
source of income, says that one of his relatives, Qasim, was killed by
foreign forces protecting Israeli ships at sea near the shores of Hodeidah.
But Ali says he is happy that he now shares the suffering with the
residents of Gaza.
Fishermen Rally Against Foreign Aggression

Qasim and seven other fishermen, all from the Al-Khawkha District in the
coastal governorate of Hodeidah, lost their lives to the Western forces in
the Red Sea while fishing in Yemen’s territorial waters. On January 26,
2024, a month after their disappearance, their bodies were found on the Dhu
al-Harab Islands overlooking the waterway in the sea. The coalition allies
control these islands. At that time, the Ministry of Fisheries, based in
Sana’a, accused <https://www.saba.ye/ar/news3299531.htm> American coalition
forces of the crime.

The murder of the eight fishermen: Qasim Hammadi, Ibrahim Mahnish, Zakaria
Mansoub, Hamza Abdel Hafeez, Majed Bahidar, Ibrahim Salem, Ahmed Shaif, and
Anwar Hattab is not an isolated case, but rather one of the dozens of
incidents in which fishermen either lost their lives were injured or were
arrested and disappeared, forcing other fisherman to stay in their homes
starving rather than risk death or imprisonment.

The Ministry of Fisheries in Sana’a, which recorded dozens of violations
against fishermen, including kidnapping and arrests carried out by the U.S.
Navy, said in a previous statement <https://www.saba.ye/ar/news3292715.htm>that
the U.S. Navy’s activity near the Yemeni coast and territorial waters
threatens Yemeni fishermen, puts their lives in danger and causes them to
lose their only source of income.

It mentioned that U.S. forces and their allies resort to the use of force
and threats to prevent fishermen from exercising their right to fish,
pointing to the tragic conditions experienced by thirty thousand Yemeni
fishermen, who depend on the fishing profession as the only source of
income for their families, due to the presence of American forces in the
Red Sea.

It added that foreign forces also deplete and plunder fish stocks, leading
to declining stocks and fishermen’s wages. “Sometimes we and our brothers
in Gaza share the same suffering, siege, and killing,” Ali says.

Ali supports Ansar Allah’s blockade of Israeli ships from the Red Sea and
likens his suffering to that of Palestinians. He does not hide his support
for the targeting of American and British ships, describing it as a
resistance operation against forces that came from the high seas, not to
prevent them from fishing and polluting their waters, but rather to kill
the people of Gaza. He says Israel, America and Britain should “drink from
the same cup.”

Like the fishermen, residents still suffer from the repercussions of ten
years of Saudi-led war and the U.S.-backed blockade, despite the relative
cessation of bombing from 2022 until the start of the war on Gaza. Yemen is
one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than 21 million
Yemenis in need of assistance and suffering from inadequate food, health
care, and infrastructure and 6.1 million facing “emergency” levels of food
insecurity, according to a recent report
<https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/yemen> from Human
Rights Watch.

The situation has become much worse since the onset of the U.S. bombing
campaign on the Yemeni mainland, the continuation of the blockade, and the
prevention of any political settlement between warring factions in Yemen.
The local population, however, does not appear ready to abandon Gaza and
supports Ansar Allah’s operations against Israel, U.S. and British ships,
even if it makes their own situation worse.

Residents in Hodeidah Governorate were not the only ones who took to the
streets in massive demonstrations on Friday to express this sentiment. A
massive demonstration took place in more than 140 governorates, cities, and
regions, the most important of which was in the Al-Sabeen area in the
Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and the cities of Saada, Dhamar, Al-Bayda, Hajjah,
Al-Mahwit, Amran, Al-Dhale’, Taiz, Al-Jawf, and Marib governorates. The
theme of the protests was “Our operations continue. Stop your aggression.”
Escalating Tensions: The Yemeni Response

Most Yemenis see the aid airdropped by the U.S. in Gaza and the
construction of a floating port as little more than a hoax, and Yemen’s
leadership intends to escalate its blockade of the Red Sea further. This
week, an Israeli ship, the Pacific 1, was targeted for the first time since
November 19, 2023, when Yemen announced military operations in support of
Gaza.

Recently, the leader of Ansar Allah, Abdulmalik Al-Houthi, announced that
Israeli or Israeli-linked ships would not only be prevented from crossing
the Red and Arabian Seas but would also be prevented from crossing the
Indian Ocean and Cape of Good Hope until the war against Gaza is stopped
and the blockade is lifted.

Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the spokesperson of Ansar Allah, confirmed that Yemen
has moved towards escalation by targeting Israeli ships in the Indian Ocean
and preventing them from sailing towards the Cape of Good Hope.
International shipping companies linked to Israel, he said, “must take this
escalation very seriously and know that any Israel-linked ship will be
exposed to Yemeni missiles.”
Ansar Allah’s Pursuit of Strategic Superiority

In response to U.S. attacks on Yemen, Ansar Allah has not only upgraded
their missile and drone capabilities, modifying explosive warheads to
double their destructive power but has now manufactured hypersonic missiles
with high destructive capability. High-ranking military sources within
Ansar Allah told MintPress that Yemen is close to adding hypersonic
missiles to its arsenal following testing against sea targets. In early
March, Yemeni rocket scientists tested a solid-fuel hypersonic missile that
can reach speeds of up to 10,000 kilometers per hour (Mach 8).

In a recent interview
<https://www.mintpressnews.com/mohammed-ali-al-houthi-ansar-allah-yemen-interview/286729/>with
MintPress News, ِMohammed Ali al-Houthi, Ansar Allah’s second-in-command,
gave explicit hints about a “surprise” that could change the equation in
the Red Sea, even against targets inside of the occupied Palestinian
territories.

In a televised speech, which he usually delivers every Thursday to announce
the latest developments in Gaza and Yemen, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the
leader of Ansar Allah, said, “There is a noticeable development in Yemeni
missiles, among these developments is a missile that arrived to Eilat this
week without being detected or intercepted by the enemy. Others reached to
the Indian Ocean, however, behind these developments is something more
advanced, but we leave it for action first.

Last Thursday, al-Houthi announced that Ansar Allah has used new weapons in
recent operations in the Red and Arabian Seas, which “surprised the United
States and the United Kingdom.” He added, “Our enemies, friends, and our
people will see a level of achievement of strategic importance that will
place our country in terms of its capabilities among the few countries in
this world.”

Brigadier Abdul-Ghani Al-Zubaid, Brigadier in the Yemeni Army and
researcher in political and military affairs said that al-Houthi’s allusion
to missile development and failure of Israel’s advanced air defense
systems, such as the Hatz system, confirmed that hypersonic missiles are
already available, perhaps in significant quantities. He continued, “We may
witness qualitative operations targeting the enemy’s depth in the coming
days, American and British ships in the Indian Ocean and South Africa.”

Israel acknowledged
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-idf-confirms-houthi-cruise-missile-hit-open-area-near-eilat-on-monday/>in
a statement released on Monday that “a cruise missile” coming from the
direction of the Red Sea from Yemen circumvented Israeli anti-air systems
and struck territories in southern occupied Palestine near Eilat.

Ballistic missiles fly on a trajectory, allowing anti-missile systems to
anticipate and intercept their path. The more irregular a missile’s flight
path, the more difficult it becomes to intercept. Hypersonic missiles fly
at speeds greater than Mach 5 and can change directions during flight.
Undoubtedly, Ansar Allah’s new hypersonic missiles could pose a formidable
challenge to air defense systems employed by the U.S. and Israel due to
their speed and maneuverability. Another development that was met with less
fanfare but was no less significant than Ansar Allah’s hypersonic missiles
was the development of its diplomatic relationship with Russia and China.
Yemen’s Geopolitical Rebalancing Act

Growing feelings of hostility towards the United States and the United
Kingdom following their attacks on Yemen and support for Israel’s war in
Gaza have not only prompted major countries such as Russia to strengthen
their relationship with Ansar Allah to mire the U.S. in the Red Sea swamp,
they have also prompted the group to enhance relations with Russia and
China in a bid to bring about a strategic defeat for the U.S. in the region.

Member of Ansar Allah’s Political Bureau, Ali al-Qahoum, told MintPress
that,

There is already development in relations between Yemen, Russia, China, and
the BRICS countries, exchanging experiences and expertise in various
fields. This serves a common interest with the goal of letting America,
Britain, and the West sink into a quagmire in the Red Sea so that their
unilateral polarity sinks, fades, and weakens.”

Al-Qahoum added,

This is not just my analysis but a clearly visible fact. Yemen is a state
that has already succeeded in supporting Palestine and has been able to
stabilize the Red Sea with great efficiency, representing a major strategic
victory in the military, security and political spheres.”

“Thanks to God and our brave leader, Yemen was able to achieve this with
unparalleled strength and pride,” he added, “To the point that major
countries began coordinating and building relations with us on an equal
footing, paving the way for the foreseeable future and laying the
groundwork for the historic defeat of the United States, Britain and the
West, and by extension, the collapse of the colonial project and Western
hegemony over the region and the world.”

With the West, led by America and Britain, attacking Yemen and continuing
to weave colonial conspiracies and preparing to expand their ongoing
aggression against Yemen, and their failure to provide protection for
Israel in the Red Sea, there is intensive work and movement by Yemen to
support Palestine and continue useful and effective strategic military
operations.”

Strategic Coordination: Palestinian Resistance

The strengthening of diplomatic ties with Russia, China, and the BRICS
countries is no exception. Ansar Allah is also strengthening its relations
with various Palestinian resistance factions, specifically the Izz al-Din
al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement.

Nasr al-Din Amer, a leader in Ansar Allah and deputy head of the Ansar
Allah Media Authority, told MintPress that Ansar Allah had given authority
over the Israeli ship, the “Galaxy,” detained off of the coast of Yemen as
well as its crew, to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Amer emphasized
Ansar Allah’s cooperation and coordination with Palestinian resistance
movements, most notably Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Feature photo | Asnar Allah recruits march during a rally of support for
the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and against the U.S. strikes on Yemen
outside Sanaa, Jan. 22, 2024. Photo | AP

* Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist based in Sana’a. He covers the
war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.*

* Republish our stories! * MintPress News is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.
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