Yemen warns no Israeli vessels or those heading to its ports will pass through Red Sea

“We affirm that no Israeli ships or [ships] linked to it or heading to its ports [in the occupied territories] will pass [through the Red Sea], and we are serious about that,” Mahdi al-Mashat, the head of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, said on Saturday.

“Our armed forces are the guardian of the Red Sea and behind them are 40 million fighters from our people ready and present for confrontation,” Mashat continued, adding, “We will continue to prevent [the passage of] Israeli ships or those heading to the Zionist entity’s ports, and we will not stop until the aggression and siege of Gaza stops.”

“Preventing the navigation of the Zionist enemy is a Yemeni choice to impose peace and [ensure] a dignified life for [Palestinian] people in Gaza.”

The Yemeni official stated, “If the United States is committed to protecting the Israeli enemy, then we affirm that we are committed to protecting and supporting our brothers in Gaza and are ready for all possibilities, and all options are available.”

During recent months, Yemen’s Armed Forces have been staging missile and drone attacks against vessels heading to Israeli ports in support of the war-hit Palestinians in Gaza.

More than 22,700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s war of genocide on Gaza, which the regime launched on October 7 following an operation by the territory’s resistance movements, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mashat said, “America, which claims to be seeking peace, is here today exposed before the world for its defiance of international law, and what is happening in Gaza in terms of [Israeli] aggression, killing, destruction, siege, and prevention of food and medicines [from reaching its people] is a disgrace for America.”

The US has announced formation of an American-led naval coalition of Washington’s allies aimed at heading off Yemen’s attacks.

As Israel’s most dedicated and age-old ally, the US has also torpedoed the prospect of cessation of the Israeli onslaught by stonewalling ratification of all United Nations Security Council resolutions that called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Washington has also supplied the regime with more than 10,000 tons of advanced weaponry since the onset of the regime’s military aggression.

“We are an Arab [and] Muslim nation that reject injustice. We cannot remain silent in the face of these crimes against our brothers in Palestine. We have defined our position in the face of Zionist and American arrogance,” Mashat added.