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On September 16, 2024, the Hamas-affiliated Shehab News Agency published[1] a statement it obtained from Nasreddin Amer, deputy information minister of Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah Movement (the Houthis), about the group's ongoing confrontation with Israel.
Referring to the group's September 15 ballistic missile attack on Israel[2], Amer stated that the operation was not part of the response to Israel's July 20 airstrikes on Yemen's Hodeida port.[3] Mentioning the Houthis' July 19 drone attack which killed an Israeli civilian in Tel Aviv[4], he asserted that those attacks were not "orphan" retaliation strikes, but rather part of an ongoing campaign aimed at stopping the "aggression" on Gaza. He added that the group was actively working to expand its capabilities to strike any target within "occupied Palestine."
Regarding Israel's threats to escalate its confrontation with Lebanese Hizbullah, Amer assured that Hizbullah was fully capable of "painfully" striking the "Zionist enemy," adding that the Houthis would support Hizbullah in such a scenario. He further claimed that if needed, the Houthis were ready to send "hundreds of thousands" of trained operatives to Lebanon, and stated: "We will support [Hizbullah] in the same way we support our brothers in the resistance in Palestine, as our stance is based on faith principles."
Amer's remarks came a day before thousands of pagers carried by Hizbullah operatives exploded simultaneously in an operation widely attributed to Israel, causing thousands of injuries and several deaths.[5]
[1] September 16, 2024.
[2] See MEMRI JTTM report: Houthi Ansar Allah Movement Claims Attack On ‘Military Target’ In Israel With ‘New Hypersonic Ballistic Missile,’ And Interception Of Ninth U.S. Drone In Yemeni Airspace, September 15, 2024.
[3] See MEMRI JTTM report: Following Israel's Airstrikes On Yemen's Al-Hudaydah Port, Houthi Ansar Allah Movement Declares 'Fifth Phase Of Escalation;' Threatens To Ignore 'Red Lines,' Attack Sensitive Targets In Israel, July 22, 2024.
[4] See MEMRI JTTM report: Yemen's Houthi Ansar Allah Movement Claims Deadly Drone Attack On Tel Aviv, Vows To Continue Striking 'Bank Of Targets' In Israel In Support Of Gaza, July 19, 2024.
[5] Wsj.com, September 17, 2024; See MEMRI JTTM report: Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades Pledges To Send Fighters And Equipment To Bolster Lebanese Hizbullah Following Pager Attack: 'We Put All Our Capabilities In The Hands Of The Brothers In Lebanon, And We Are Fully Prepared To Go With Them To The End', September 17, 2024.
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