Yemen’s Houthi threatens to strike Israel, its ships in Red Sea

“We will continue to plan additional operations against all [Israeli] targets that we can reach, both in Palestine and beyond. We will not miss any opportunity to do so,” the Houthi leader said during a Al Masirah TV broadcast.

“We are constantly looking for any Israeli ship in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and near Yemeni territorial waters,” he added.

Al-Houthi called on Arab and Muslim countries to boycott American and Israeli goods, as well as the products of any company that supports Israel.

In his televised address on Tuesday, the Ansarullah chief also expressed his disappointment with the final statement issued by the Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh at the weekend.

“Although the Arab-Islamic Summit was an emergency meeting of 57 countries, it did not come up with a position or practical action, and this is shameful and sad,” Houthi said.

“The summit that claimed to represent all Muslims only produced statements with no practical stance. Is this capability of over a billion and a half Muslims?” he continued, adding, “Fifty-seven Arab and Islamic countries, with all their … capabilities, came out with a statement that could have been issued by a primary school and by one person.”

Hours later, Houthi fighters announced they have launched ballistic missiles on various Israel targets, including in the Red Sea city of Eilat. The launch came “after 24 hours of another military operation by drones on the same Israeli targets”, the group’s military spokesperson has said.

The Houthis have conducted several missile and drone attacks against Israel since October 7.

The war in Gaza has sent tensions soaring throughout the region, with international organisations and political leaders warning of a potential wider war across the region.