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During the third week of July 2024, Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah movement (the Houthis) claimed responsibility for eight missile and drone attacks against ships and other targets, among them those that were "American" and those that were "Israeli," in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Mediterranean Sea, and on Israeli territory. One of the most-recent attacks was reportedly carried out jointly with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed group of Iraqi militias.
Houthi armed forces spokesman Yahya Sare'e repeated his call to all the Arab and Islamic armies "to fulfill their religious, moral, and human obligation to the Palestinian people," and express willingness to cooperate militarily with any Arab or Islamic element "for the sake of the Palestinian people." Following the July 20 attack by the Israeli Air Force on the Hudaydah area in Yemen, Sare'e threatened that the armed forces of Yemen "will not hesitate to strike the vital targets of the Israeli enemy," and asserted that its response "will be large and powerful."
The following is a review of the statements issued by the Houthis between July 14 and 21, 2024:
Among Recent Houthi Targets: An "American" And An "Israeli" Ship, Additional Targets On Israeli Territory
On July 14, Sare'e claimed responsibility for a missile and drone attack on "an Israeli ship" the MSC UNIFIC in the Gulf of Aden. This was allegedly in addition to a drone attack against "a number of military targets of the Israeli enemy in the Umm Al-Rashrash [Eilat] area, south of occupied Palestine."
On the following day, Sare'e claimed responsibility for three "specific military operations, as follows: The first was carried out by the naval, the missile, and UAV forces, using a number of drone boats, UAVs, and ballistic missiles, targeting the BENTLEY I ship in the Red Sea; the second operation targeted the CHIOS LION oil ship in the Red Sea with uncrewed surface boat… The two ships were targeted owing to violation of ban decision of access to the ports of occupied Palestine by the company that owns the ship; the third operation was carried out by the Yemeni Armed Forces alongside the Iraqi Islamic Resistance in the Mediterranean Sea, targeting the ship OLVIA."
It is noteworthy that on July 16, on its Telegram channel, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also claimed responsibility for a July 15 attack on the OLVIA, in the Mediterranean Sea, noting that it was a joint attack carried out with the armed forces of Yemen.
On July 19, the spokesman for the Houthi armed forces claimed responsibility for "a specific and joint military operation in the Gulf of Aden, targeting the ship (LOBIVIA) with a number of ballistic missiles and drones." He stressed that the ship was attacked "owing to the violation of the ban decision of entry to the ports of occupied Palestine by the company that owns the ship."
Also on July 19, Sare'e claimed responsibility for an attack on "an important target" in Israel's second-largest city, Tel Aviv, with "a new drone called 'Yafa', which is capable of bypassing the enemy's interception systems and undetectable by radars." On the same day, on its official Telegram channel, the Houthis published a poster that depicts "the Yafa drone" beneath several photographs showing the location in Tel Aviv where it made impact. Also appearing on the poster is the following excerpt from the claim of responsibility, in Arabic, English, and Hebrew: "The Jaffa area (Tel Aviv) is an unsafe area."
On July 21, Sare'e claimed responsibility for "a specific military operation targeting an important target in the Umm Al-Rashrash area southern occupied Palestine with a number of ballistic missiles," and also for "a joint military operation targeting the American ship PUMBA in the Red Sea with a number of ballistic missiles and drones."
Houthi Armed Forces Spokesman: The Response To The Israeli Attack On Al-Hudayah Will Be "Large" And Powerful
On July 20, following the attack by the Israeli Air Force on "targets of the Houthi terrorist regime," in Hudayah, Yemen, Sare'e accused Israel of attacking "civilian targets" and threatened that the armed forces of Yemen "will not hesitate to strike the vital targets of the Israeli enemy, while confirming what was stated in its previous statement regarding considering the occupied Jaffa area as an unsafe area."
He also said that Yemen will not stop its support for "its brothers" in Gaza, "whatever the repercussions and whatever the results are, and declared that it is prepared for a long war with Israel, "until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted and the crimes committed by the enemy against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is over." He further stated that "the response to the Israeli aggression against our country will definitely come, and it will be large and powerful."
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