A senior defense official has revealed that the Yemeni Armed Forces possess weaponry capable of reaching the Mediterranean Sea, supporting the movement's announcement of expanding its shipping operations beyond its immediate vicinity.

Concerns within the US government center around the YAF's ability to extend their strikes from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to the Mediterranean. The official, speaking anonymously, highlighted the YAF's access to advanced armaments, emphasizing their use of anti-ship ballistic missiles, which is highly unusual, along with drone attacks.

Yemen to expand naval operations beyond Mediterranean, al-Houthi says

Last week, Yemeni Ansar Allah leader Abdul-Malik Badreddine al-Houthi said that the fourth phase announced by the Yemeni armed forces "is not limited to the Mediterranean Sea and includes all ships that transport goods to occupied Palestine," pointing out that the Armed Forces launched this phase through two operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

The operations carried out by the Yemeni armed forces against the Israeli occupation have amounted to 40 while the operations against ships traveling through the Red Sea amounted to 100, Sayyed al-Houthi announced.

"In the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, operations against American ships amounted to more than 100 attacks with missiles and drones," he declared.

Regarding attempts to intercept Yemeni strikes on occupation ships or heading toward its ports, the Ansar Allah leader emphasized that they would fail and would be overcome, stressing that the Yemeni forces were seeking to further extend their range and strike even beyond the Mediterranean Sea in support of Palestine and the Palestinian cause.

Read more: What the West needs to know about Yemen's Ansar Allah