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Yemen, a new front against Israel
Staff writer
Following Israel’s brutal onslaught on the Gaza Strip and the killing of thousands of Palestinians in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, anti-Israel sentiment has once again bubbled up in the Middle East region.
By launching strikes on Israel’s positions and targeting its assets, resistance groups, which represent a large part of people in the region, are reminding Israel that they still consider it an occupying regime, and that they will not be silent over its atrocities in the region.
Crimes committed by Israel and its main ally, the United States, throughout the decades have forced the resistance movements to gradually strengthen their military powers.
Now, the time has come to flex their muscles and show the Israeli regime that they will not forsake the Palestinians, and will not let Israel do whatever it wants.
Resistance groups are now active in many regional countries including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Yemen, which has now become one of the main fronts in the region of resistance against Israel and the US.
Like other Middle Eastern countries, Yemen has also become furious at the new Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian territories, which has claimed the lives of more than 17,000 Palestinians just in two months.
Years of fighting against military aggression by Saudi Arabia have turned the resistance movement in Yemen into a powerful military force in the region.
Along with its brave fighters, the Yemeni Army is now in possession of ballistic missiles and long range combat drones, which are capable of hitting Israel.
From the early days of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Ansarullah group, which overthrew the government and gained control of the country in 2014, following the Arab Spring uprisings in the region, has time and again warned the Israeli regime over its crimes in the Palestinian territories.
Attacks on Israel
Yahya Saree, military spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, announced on October 31 that the movement launched a “large number” of rockets, ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel.
More strikes would follow “until the Israeli aggression stops,” he said.
By sending missile and drone strikes against Israel, Yemen’s Army aims to send a message of support for Palestinians and a signal to Israel that it can now reach it, and that they will not hesitate to use this capability in the future.
Some Yemeni missiles have the capability of reaching Israel despite a long distance between Yemen and the Palestinian territories.
Israel has forced to deploy its “Arrow” defense system which is designed to take out ballistic missiles outside of the Earth’s atmosphere.
It has also deployed missile boats that could also indicate that Israel may be concerned about the possibility of attacks from Yemen on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea.
Extra cost for Israe
Confronting the resistance groups’ attacks has inflicted extra cost on Israel’s regime which is heavily reliable on military assistance from the United States.
On November 19, Yemen’s Armed Forces seized an Israeli ship named the “Galaxy Leader” and detained dozens of its crew members in the Red Sea following warnings by the Ansarullah movement that the force will target any Israeli ship crossing the country’s territorial waters.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni Armed Forces took responsibility for attacking two ships in the Red Sea on December 3, saying the country was blocking Israeli ships from passing through the Red Sea until Israel halted its military operations in Gaza.
The US Central Command claimed that American forces shot down ballistic missiles and drones used by the Yemenis in the attack.
The US, which is concerned about the spill-over of the conflict in Gaza, has sent two aircraft carriers and supporting ships to the region to support the Israeli regime.
Yemen is effectively setting their sights on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, where goods and oil are transported in large quantities.
By focusing on Bab al-Mandeb – and launching earlier attacks in the Red Sea and southern Israel – the resistance movement in Yemen appears to be trying to impose hefty financial costs on Israel, in addition to undermining its security if it chooses to prolong the war.
The Palestinian cause is important to Yemen, the full entry of which in the conflict could be concerning for Israel, as it is already engaged in border fighting with the Hezbollah resistance group in southern Lebanon, which has already entered the war.
In addition to the attacks by Hezbollah and Yemenis, other resistance groups have carried out dozens of attacks against US military forces spread throughout the Middle East in recent weeks.
If the conflict escalates into a regional war, the Ansarullah movement, which is part of the “axis of resistance,” will most likely keep launching more missiles and drones at Israel. l