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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Ansar Allah Leader Dr. Hizam Al-Assad on Yemen's Struggle, Naval Confrontations, and Global Alliances</h1>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">March 11, 2024<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p>Since
the outbreak of the war on Gaza and subsequent tensions in the Red Sea,
the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea, MintPress News has sought
dialogue with the most important decision-makers in Ansar Allah, who are
leading the charge in Yemen’s resistance against Israeli interests
there in a bid to force Israel to accept a ceasefire and allow aid to
enter the besieged Strip.</p>
<p>We aim to ask deep and fundamental questions that are of interest to
Western readers and people around the world, particularly in the United
States, where the media often fails to provide an alternative, let alone
opposing, point of view.</p>
<p>MintPress News not only seeks to convey events from the ground in
Yemen, but to break the unilateral narrative that has largely prevailed
throughout the world about the explosive events in Bab al-Mandab,
arguably the most important international strait and shipping corridor.
It is in this context that MintPress News has reopened on-the-ground
reporting in Yemen, bringing readers <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/author/ahmed-abdulkareem/">exclusive stories</a>
and interviews with prominent officials behind recent events like the
sinking of a British cargo ship, American airstrikes on the Yemeni
mainland, deadly attacks against commercial and military vessels
belonging to the U.S., Britain, and Israel, allegations of sabotage of
internet cables in the Red and Arabian Seas, the European military
mission “Aspides,” and other thorny issues, including the Iranian agenda
in the Red Sea, peace in the war-torn country, and an anticipated
invasion of Yemen.</p>
<p>For that, MintPress News correspondent Ahmed Abdulkareem interviewed
prominent member of the Ansar Allah movement, Dr. Hizam Al-Assad, who is
an active member and plays a role in developments in the Red Sea and
supporting the people of Gaza. A <a href="https://youtu.be/upgnGZxWueI?si=YzoHUG0gUmZ--d6D" target="_blank">video</a>
showing Dr. Al-Assad along and his team performing the traditional
Yemeni Buraa dance on the deck of the Israeli-linked ship, the Galaxy,
after its seizure by Ansar Allah in the Red Sea on November 19, 2023,
went viral last fall on Arab news and social media platforms, garnering
millions of views. The seizure of the Galaxy was Ansar Allah’s first
operation since the onset of Israel’s war on Gaza.</p>
<p><b>MintPress News: Since October 27, when Israel began the war on
Gaza, Ansar Allah announced it would target Israel with missiles and
drones and prevent Israeli ships from crossing the Red Sea in addition
to targeting U.S. and UK ships. Does Ansar Allah intend to continue this
campaign?</b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Hizam Al-Assad</b>: Our attitude on the US-backed Israeli
aggression and siege on our people in Gaza is a religious, humanitarian
and moral attitude, especially when Zionists went too far in their
crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza – genocidal crimes that
have been committed against tens of thousands of children, women and
civilians in a geographical area that is besieged from all sides.</p>
<p>Because of that, the Yemeni people, represented by their leadership
and army, moved to support the oppressed people in Gaza by striking
“Israeli” [territory] and targeting ships linked to Israel, or heading
to its ports, until the aggression stops and the siege on the people in
Gaza is lifted. And because of the American-British aggression against
our country, our army had to respond by targeting Washington and
London’s ships and military assets in the Red and Arabian Seas.</p>
<p>We confirm that as long as the aggression and siege on our brothers
in Gaza continues, ships linked to the Israeli enemy entity will
continue to be targeted, as well as targeting Israeli [territory], in
addition to continuing to confront and respond to the British-American
aggression over our country. Our response is a legitimate right
guaranteed by all international and humanitarian systems and laws.</p>
<p><b>MintPress News: For the third month in a row, the United States
and Britain continue to bomb Hodeidah Governorate and other Yemeni
governorates, including the capital, Sana’a. Have these strikes
undermined Ansar Allah’s capabilities, as is the stated goal of the
attacks on Yemen? </b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Hizam Al-Assad: </b>As for the American and British strikes on
our country, they are considered an unjustified and blatant attack on
the sovereignty of the Republic of Yemen, especially since the
operations of our naval forces supporting the people of Gaza do not
target international navigation but are limited to preventing or
targeting ships linked to the Israeli enemy entity to pressure it to
stop its aggression and crimes and to lift the siege on the residents of
the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>However, the American and British strikes on our country did not
significantly undermine our army’s military capabilities. Rather, we
increased the pace of confrontation and escalation in targeting U.S. and
British ships, and we may go beyond that to target U.S. interests in
the region, which is a legitimate and guaranteed right.</p>
<p><b>MintPress News: What is Ansar Allah’s position on potential
escalatory steps that Israel may take in Gaza, especially an invasion of
Rafah, as well as the potential for an expansion of U.S. and British
attacks in the Red Sea or even a U.S.-led ground invasion of Yemen? </b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Hizam Al-Assad: </b>Israel continues to carry out its crimes
against the Palestinian people in Gaza with direct American support and
participation. The body parts and blood of Gaza’s children have become a
disgrace to America, especially as it not only continues to provide
military support to the Israeli occupation entity in order to kill more
women and children but also to use its veto power in the UN Security
Council to thwart any draft resolution aimed to stop the war.</p>
<p>Any new Israeli approach to escalation in Rafah may expose more than
one million, three hundred thousand people to certain death and will put
international and humanitarian organizations and human rights laws to
the test, especially since Washington, which always pays lip service to
humanity and the protection of rights, is still insisting on continuing
to support the Israeli army as it continues committing more crimes
against a defenseless people, and American airlifts continues to supply
the Israeli army with bombs, missiles, and deadly shells that kill
hundreds of children, women, and civilians every day. It also destroys
homes, hospitals, places of displacement, and civilian facilities.</p>
<p>All of this makes it necessary for us to continue supporting and
escalating military operations. We have, thanks to God, options and
major, powerful surprises that will be painful for Israel, America and
the British.</p>
<p>We are waging an honorable battle to support the vulnerable and
oppressed in the face of satanic and evil forces that spread
devastation, destruction and blood. They also bomb, kill and commit
genocide against tens of thousands of children, women and civilians in a
narrow and besieged geographical area.</p>
<p>Regarding escalation by the United States, our response may be earth-shattering and severe. America’s<b> i</b>nterests
will be harmed, and its soldiers will be killed. Their bodies may not
return home because they are aggressors against our country and
participating in the killing and siege of our brothers in Gaza.</p>
<p>If the American forces decide to enter into a ground war, this is
what our Yemeni people, armed with faith, iron, and fire, aspire to and
desire. The Yemeni citizen longs for the day when they can confront the
American invaders and occupiers face to face.</p>
<p>As for our naval forces, they contribute to securing international
navigation and have never been a source of danger or concern to maritime
shipping lines. However, Washington is trying to use these flimsy
excuses to justify its attacks to those who still believe it, as it
claims that it secures international navigation. In reality, it
participates with Israel in the killing and siege against our brothers
in the Gaza Strip. They are trying to protect Israeli ships in the Red
and Arab Seas and ignoring the interests of taxpayers. They are also
carrying out aggression against Yemen.</p>
<p><b>MintPress News: Over the past few days, the roads closed between
areas controlled by the National Salvation Government and those
controlled by the Saudi coalition’s allies have been reopened. Can you
tell MintPress more about this? What is the state of reconciliation
efforts between opposing parties in Yemen?</b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Hizam Al-Assad</b>: The path of Yemeni negotiations with the
Saudi-led Coalition, especially Saudi Arabia, is ongoing and continued.
There is a roadmap project that may be finalized and signed soon,
despite continuing American pressure aimed at disrupting this path
because of our positions rejecting the continuation of Israeli-American
crimes against the residents of Gaza.</p>
<p>Regarding the reopening of roads in either some military contact
areas or in some axes of the fronts, there has been a breakthrough in
some areas after the Sanaa government’s [Ansar Allah] initiative to open
them with local mediation and guarantees and far from American pressure
trying to hinder peace in Yemen.</p>
<p><b>MintPress News: Ansar Allah announced the downing of a U.S.
warplane and the sinking of a British ship, in addition to the targeting
of U.S. and British warships. Do you consider this an escalation by
Ansar Allah due to the war on Gaza, or is it related to Washington’s
recent decision to classify Ansar Allah as a terrorist group?</b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Hizam Al-Assad: </b>The Yemeni armed forces will continue to
target ships linked to Israel until the aggression is stopped and the
siege on our people in Gaza is lifted. Regarding the strike on US..
ships and military assets in the Red and Arabian Seas, [we have] an
escalatory and strategic plan to target them and cleanse our territorial
waters of them as a response to their aggression against Yemen.</p>
<p>Our goal is to bring security and peace to the region. The American
forces that traveled a distance of more than ten thousand miles to reach
our seas came to militarize the Red Sea and to spread problems, wars
and aggression against our country and participate in the killing of
Palestinian people.</p>
<p>The American people must know that their forces are not in a
defensive position but are in an aggressive position. International
navigation in the Red Sea is safe and proceeding normally and naturally.
The evidence of this is the continuation of [maritime] traffic to all
destinations except those heading to the Israeli enemy entity or the
American and British ships, as they are still carrying out aggression
against our country.</p>
<p>Regarding the Biden administration’s classification of us as
terrorists, it is a political classification whose purpose is to
blackmail us into abandoning our support of the Palestinian people in
Gaza. We are not concerned about America’s classifications because it is
an enemy that has already been defeated and will not hesitate to make
accusations against its opponent.</p>
<p>In fact, the United States, given its criminal record, is considered
the head of evil, terrorism, and criminality in the whole world, and
throughout its bloody history, it is the mother of terrorism and its
source. It is the one who practices oppression and terrorism against the
peoples of the world under the same titles and justifications.</p>
<p>As for those who support just humanitarian and moral issues and
support the oppressed Palestinian people in Gaza, they are those who
fight terrorism and confront the forces of arrogance and global
criminality.</p>
<p><b>MintPress News: On February 19, a European military mission led by
Greece called Aspides was launched. The mission’s stated aim is to use
battleships and frigates to protect navigation in the Red Sea and the
Gulf of Aden. What is Ansar Allah’s position on Aspides? </b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Hizam Al-Assad: </b>According to European officials who spoke
to us, their mission is defensive, to accompany some European ships. It
has nothing to do with American and British hostilities and will not
represent a threat to the Republic of Yemen.</p>
<p>So far, we are still taking them for their word. If any country sides
with the U.S. and Britain in the aggression against Yemen, the fate of
its ships, navigational interests, and others will be the same fate that
Washington’s and London’s ships are facing right now in the Red and
Arabian Seas.</p>
<p>There is no threat posed by Asnar Allah to international navigation
in the Red and Arabian Seas. Our naval forces have contributed greatly
and for years to securing international navigation, while the imminent
danger to the security and safety of international navigation lies in
the American-British escalation: the attempt to militarize the Red Sea
and the launching of missiles toward Yemen’s territory from the
proximity of commercial ships, as well as threatening and forcing major
shipping companies not to pass through Bab al-Mandab, and obliging ships
sailing across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to turn off their
identification devices.</p>
<p>All of these evil measures, which I mentioned, are an attempt to
create confusion around the security of international navigation and an
attempt to portray the operations of our naval forces against Israeli
ships as posing a threat to the security of navigation for the purpose
of inciting world opinion against us. The Biden administration is
deceiving its people who pay taxes as it spends their money to harm them
and cause damage to their interests, not to service them or protect
their interests, such as the well-being of commercial ships.</p>
<p><b>MintPress News: What is your response to claims Ansar Allah
threatens international navigation in the Red Sea, that it poses a
danger to underwater internet cables and that it exposes the Red Sea and
Gulf of Aden to environmental danger by targeting oil tankers such as
the recent sinking of the MV Rubymar?</b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Hizam Al-Assad: </b>Regarding the sinking of the British
Rubymar, we are committed to our people and our nation, and we will
continue to target and sink all American and British ships within the
right of response to their aggression against our country. It is the
least we can do in the face of the brutality, crime, and arrogance
practiced by Washington and London towards our country and our nation. I
can confirm to MintPress News that there are major, powerful, and
unexpected surprises for our enemy if the attacks against our country
continue.</p>
<p>Regarding optical internet lines and cables in the Red and Arabian
Seas, over the past month, Washington has sought to sabotage them after
raising the issue in the media. This was a preemptive move intended to
blame our naval forces.</p>
<p>We affirm our commitment to contribute to protecting and securing
international shipping lines and internet cables in the Red and Arabian
Seas. Furthermore, we will protect it from the danger posed by the
aggressing American and British forces. For us, this is a religious,
moral and humanitarian obligation and is consistent with international
laws and treaties, as our country is one of the most important riparian
countries and has the right to do so. The United States, which came to
the region for one goal only, to protect Israel, will not hesitate to
harm the interests of the world in favor of Israel.</p>
<p><b>MintPress News: Ansar Allah is accused of implementing Tehran’s
agenda in the Red Sea. First, is the characterization true? Second, what
is the relationship between Ansar Allah and Iran?</b></p>
<p><b>Dr. Hizam Al-Assad: </b>Our positions and decisions are completely
independent. Our relationship with Iran is a brotherly and equal
relationship. We agree and meet with Tehran and all the free people of
the region and the world on humanitarian stances that support the right
of the Palestinian people to live and remain on their land and to defend
their threatened existence.</p>
<p>Feature photo | Dr. Hizam Al-Assad</p>
<p><em><strong> Ahmed AbdulKareem</strong> is a Yemeni journalist based in Sana’a. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.</em>a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
International License. </p></div></div></div>
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