All UK, US interests in region are legitimate targets: Yemeni Council

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
12 Jan 2024 15:22
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UK and US presence in the Red Sea violates International Law, and the Republic of Yemen is responsible for dealing with it appropriately.

Yemeni Resistance fighters boarding the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023 (AP)

The Yemeni Supreme Political Council of the Sanaa government issued a statement on the joint US-UK overnight aggression against Yemen warning of imminent retaliation.

"What the country has been subjected to is an unjustified and illegitimate American-British aggression, which violates all international laws," the statement's opening statement read.

"All American and British interests have become legitimate targets for the Yemeni Armed Forces in response to their direct and announced aggression against the Yemeni Republic," the Supreme Political Council warned.

"The aggression on Yemen is an extension of the treacherous American targeting of the Yemeni Naval Forces and the American-British-Zionist aggression on the people of Gaza. The American-British aggression is a real threat to international peace and security, putting the region at grave stakes."

"The presence of American and British forces, and those allied to them, under false pretexts in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab [strait] is rejected and violates all laws. This presence [of the US and UK in the Red Sea] is a threat to international navigation, and it's the duty of the Yemeni Republic to deal with it the way it sees fit."

"We affirm the commitment of the Yemeni Republic to what was declared at the beginning of its naval operation to end the blockade, stop the aggression, end the genocidal war on Gaza, and allow the entry of food, medicine, fuel, and all means of life."

Yemeni military expert: Aggressors think the Armed Forces would employ overt military sites

In an interview for Al Mayadeen Net, Yemeni military expert Aabed al-Thawr said the aggression has not achieved any accomplishments, and targeting these areas has no real impact, explaining that these locations were originally destroyed during the war waged by the Saudi coalition for nearly 9 years.

Al-Thawr noted that the aggression targeted overt military sites, expressing surprise that the aggressors would actually think that the Yemeni Armed Forces had resumed using them so shortly after the war with Saudi Arabia. Al-Thawr added that the Armed Forces have fortified and secret military sites for conducting their military operations.

One of the military bases targeted by the aggression, according to al-Thawr, is the Delmi base. He said that it is currently used for civilian aviation, not military purposes, noting that the Saudi coalition had formerly launched several attacks against it and failed to completely destroy it.

As for Hodeidah Airport, which was also targeted in the overnight aggression, the military expert confirmed to Al Mayadeen Net that it was already destroyed, and the Saudi coalition had booby-trapped the area around it.

Supreme Political Council: Aggression will not undermine the Armed Forces: neither militarily nor morally

In the same context, Secretary of the Supreme Political Council Yasser al-Houri told Al Mayadeen Net, "This aggression is not new. Yemen has been facing an alliance led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE on behalf of the United States and the United Kingdom for about 9 years."

Al-Houri considered this aggression an extension of the attacks on the naval forces and an extension of the aggression on Gaza. He emphasized that the Yemeni armed forces have their own methods of confrontation, and these strikes will not affect them militarily or morally. Yemen has faced greater challenges and triumphed over them, according to al-Houri.