The Shiite Houthi rebels today asked the European Union (EU) not to add “more fuel to the fire” with the naval mission that is likely to be approved for deployment in the Red Sea and that, instead, countries should move to “stop the crimes” in the Gaza Strip.
“Instead of the European Union countries moving to add fuel to the fire, they should move seriously to stop the crimes of genocide in Gaza, and then we will stop all our military operations immediately and automatically,” said Mohamed al Bukhaiti , a member of the Houthi political bureau, in his official account on the X platform.
The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah (or “Supporters of God”), are a violent militant group that has controlled large parts of Yemen since the start of the civil war in 2014. Their militias have launched numerous attacks against shipping in the Red Sea since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza
He indicated that European societies must “realize that moral and human values ??are fixed and do not change according to a person’s nationality and religion, and their treatment of them with an extreme selectivity that amounts to schizophrenia will expand the scope of wars in the world, which will spread to Europe”.
Since November 19, the Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb that, they say, have links to Israel.
“We only attack ships linked to Israel, not with the objective of capturing or sinking them, but with the aim of changing their course to increase the economic cost for Israel as a means of pressure to stop their crimes in Gaza and allow the entry of food, medicine and fuel to its beleaguered residents. This is a legitimate act, especially since we are in a state of war with it,” he said.
And he added that if the crews of those ships “had responded to the instructions of our naval forces, they would not have been detained or bombed.”
The EU countries are inclined to have the naval mission they will send to the Red Sea have a defensive nature to protect merchant ships from attacks that the Houthis may launch, but they are not considering attacking Yemen, as the United States and the Kingdom do. United Kingdom, although its approval may not occur this month.
