The Yemeni Armed Forces, affiliated with the Ansarallah movement, announced on Monday evening that they carried out a military operation targeting “an Israeli military site in Eilat, and successfully achieved its goal.”
The group said in a statement, “The operation was carried out using the ‘Palestine’ ballistic missile, which the armed forces revealed (…) for the first time.”
The statement noted that the operation was carried out “in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and in response to the crimes of the Zionist enemy against the displaced people in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip”.
The group also stated that it “will continue to carry out its military operations in support of and support for the oppressed Palestinian people until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted.”
The Israeli army claimed earlier on Monday that it had intercepted a ground-to-surface ballistic missile, launched from Yemen, which was heading toward an Israeli target in the city of Eilat, in southern Israel.
According to the army, the missile was shot down using the long-range air defense system Arrow, while sirens sounded in Eilat.
Ten Ships
The Ansarallah have been escalating resistance operations following the Israeli invasion of Rafah.
Last week, the group announced that they targeted ten ships affiliated with the US, UK, and Israel in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
According to Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the group’s leader, in only one week, the Yemeni forces carried out 27 ballistic and winged missile operations, along with drone strikes.
‘In Response to These Crimes’ – Ansarallah Targets USS Eisenhower in Red Sea
Al-Houthi explained that operations targeted ships linked to Israeli, US, and UK interests, as well as ships belonging to companies violating the ban on entering ports in Israel, without disclosing their names.
The Ansarallah leader added that since November, the total number of ships targeted in support operations for Gaza has reached 129.
Fourth Stage
Starting in November, Ansarallah has joined other Arab Resistance groups in targeting Israel amid a bloody Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip.
The other groups include Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and, as of late, the Islamic Resistance in Bahrain.
The Ansarallah’s position was directly linked to Israel’s policy of starving Palestinians in Gaza. But instead of demanding an end to the Israeli siege on Gaza, the US began attacking Ansarallah positions in Yemen, killing and wounding many.
Earlier this month, the group announced that it launched its “fourth stage of escalation” against Israel until the Israeli war ends and the Gaza siege is lifted.
Saree said in a statement at the time that Ansarallah members “will target all ships headed to Israeli ports in any area we reach regardless of their nationality and destination.”
The Yemeni Armed Forces announced the targeting of Eilat today, using a "Palestine" ballistic missile, which they revealed for the first time.
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Furthermore, “the Yemeni group will impose comprehensive sanctions on all ships that belong to companies that are linked to Israeli ports, shall Israel carry out a ground invasion of Rafah,” according to Saree.
Earlier this year, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a multinational mission, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to counter Houthi attacks.
Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 36,550 Palestinians have been killed, and 82,959 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
