Copy in clipboard...
Yemen vows to continue targeting Israeli ships despite US deal
A day after the movement agreed to stop firing on ships plying the key trade route off their shores, a senior official told AFP that Israel was excluded from the deal.
“The waterways are safe for all international ships except Israeli ones,” Abdulmalik Alejri, a member of the Ansarullah political bureau, told AFP.
“Israel is not part of the agreement, it only includes American and other ships,” he said.
Yemen’s Armed Forces began firing at Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in November 2023, weeks after the beginning of the regime’s war on the Gaza Strip.
They broadened their campaign to target ships tied to the United States and Britain after military strikes by the two countries began in January 2024.
Alejri said the armed forces would now “only” attack Israeli ships.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei “welcomed the cessation of US aggression against the country,” praising Yemenis for their “legendary resistance.”
Saudi Arabia also commended the deal, a foreign ministry statement said. The agreement was announced after deadly Israeli strikes on Tuesday put Sana’a airport out of action in revenge for a Yemen missile strike on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
Sanaa airport director Khaled al-Shaief told the Al-Masirah television Wednesday the Israeli attack had destroyed terminal buildings and caused $500 million in damage.
Oman said it had facilitated an agreement between Washington and the Ansarullah movement that “neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation.”
US President Donald Trump, who will visit Persian Gulf countries next week, trumpeted the deal.
“They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s... the purpose of what we were doing,” he said during a White House press appearance.