Al-Kandiq, a news website linked to the Lebanese Hizbullah on November 1, 2023 published an article discussing the October 31 Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthis) claimed attack on Israel, reports Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
The article, authored by Zainab Akeel, argued that the attack signals that the Houthis are officially entering the war against Israel as a key player. The piece further suggested that the attack was in defiance of the US warnings against Iran and its proxies, including Houthis, not to intervene in the Hamas-Israeli war.
“Houthi attacks in response to Yemeni people’s demands”
Titled “Yemen’s entry into the war: Ansar Allah’s statement has trampled on American threats with its boots”, the article claimed that the Houthis’ attacks were in response to the “demands made by our Yemeni people and the demands of free peoples, to help for our people in Gaza”.
Reiterating Houthis’ threats to Israel, the article boasted that the US and Israel have no capacity to deter such attacks.
“Ansar Allah movement announced its entry into the war, which is about to become regional, due to the temporary entity [i.e., Israel] continuing to commit massacres in Palestine, without any significant deterrent”.
“Houthis ignore US show of force”
It claimed that the Houthis have warned Washington and Tel Aviv, “through diplomatic channels, that if the atrocities in Gaza were not stopped, they would arouse public anger and consume the patience of the resistance movements [i.e., Iran-backed militias]”.
The article applauded the Houthis for disregarding US threats and for the “show of force across the seas”, saying that the attack was a declaration of war on Israel via the Red Sea.
Mocking Pentagon statements
The Yemeni fire [i.e., attack] comes at a time when the USS Bataan troop and aircraft carrier and other elements of its strike force are anchored in the Red Sea, along with other American ships. Air Force Brigadier General Pat Rader, Pentagon Press Secretary, acknowledged the Yemeni fire targeting Israel. The article quoted the general as saying: “This is something we will continue to monitor. We want to prevent a broader regional conflict”.
Mocking the Pentagon Press Secretary, the article continued: “They want to monitor Yemeni missiles that are capable of reaching about 1,000 kilometers, and what next?”
While highlighting “welcoming” statements made by pro-Houthi groups and militias, the article noted that Israel’s silence over the attacks is tantamount to an attempt “to belittle them”.
It may be mentioned here that, within hours of taking office in 2021, US President Joe Biden removed Houthis from designated list as terrorist entity, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the time argued that the administration removed the designation over concerns that it might have “a devastating impact on Yemenis’ access to basic commodities like food and fuel”.
“The revocations are intended to ensure that relevant US policies do not impede assistance to those already suffering what has been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”, he added. “By focusing on alleviating the humanitarian situation in Yemen, we hope the Yemeni parties can also focus on engaging in dialogue”.
Just within a year, Joe Biden realized his decision was a disastrous blunder as much of his decisions and in January 2022, Joe Biden announced that he is considering re-designating Yemen’s Houthis as an international terrorist organization.
In February 2022, Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington DC issued a dossier titled – ‘Returning the Houthis to the US Terrorist List Stop Cash and Arms Flows: Maintain Aid Flows’.
The dossier said:
After direct attacks against civilian targets and US installations in the UAE, the UAE urges the US to return the Houthi separatist extremist group in Yemen to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). This designation will help disrupt illicit financial and weapons networks feeding the Houthi terror machine. It will add to mounting pressure on the Houthis to engage in UN-led peace e‑orts that can end hostilities in a war that has gone on far too long. Properly applied, returning the Houthis to the US terror list will not stop critical humanitarian aid from reaching the Yemeni people.
In February 2021, the Biden Administration removed the Houthis from the US list of officially designated terrorists. With good intentions, the Administration hoped this signal would encourage the Houthis to reduce hostilities, enter into talks, and improve the conditions for the Yemeni people. Instead, the Houthis have intensified their attacks inside and outside of Yemen, shunned all diplomatic e‑orts by UN and US mediators, and deepened the humanitarian crisis by diverting and stealing humanitarian aid. In response to the latest attacks against civilians and UAE and US interests, President Biden said at his January 19 press conference that the US is considering restoring its designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group…
Houthi drone attack on Israel
On November 1, 2023, Al-‘Ilam Al-Harbi Al-Yemeni (the Yemeni War Media), which is run by Yemen’s Iran-backed Ansar Allah Movement (the Houthis), published videos that it claimed showed the launch of munitions directed at Israel on October 31. The video was published on the Telegram channel linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Sepah Cybery and on other channels affiliated with Iran-backed militias.
Launching the attack
The video features the launches of what appear to be two ballistic missiles, 42 uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), and seven unidentifiable objects. Most of the objects are unidentifiable due to nighttime conditions obscuring the view of the aircraft. All are launched from what appear to be arid, uninhabited locations.
A title screen identifies the contents of the video as: “Scenes from the operations carried out by the Yemeni [i.e., Houthi] Missile Force and the Air Force with a large number of ballistic and winged missiles and drones against the Israeli enemy in occupied Palestine in response to its crimes against the Gaza Strip”.
The post from “Sepah Cybery” commented on the video, writing: “Yemen’s Ansar Allah armed forces released a video of the joint operation of the Ansar Allah missile forces and the air force in targeting targets deep within the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine”.
“Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory for Islam”
Following the launch, a man’s voice shouts, “Allahu Akbar [Allah is the greatest], death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory for Islam. This is for you, Al-Aqsa [Mosque]. This is for you, Gaza!”
Similar chants against the US, Israel, and Jews repeat throughout the video.
Throughout the video, the bottom quarter of the screen is digitally blurred, preventing identification of that area. At multiple points during the video, individuals can be seen walking in the blurred area.
During what appears to be the launch of ground-launched drones, both the Yemeni and Palestinian flags are visible in the foreground.
Analysis
Some of the launches take place in a nighttime setting, while others take place during the day, suggesting that multiple salvos were included in the filming. This appears consistent with Israeli claims to the media that two salvos were intercepted, hours apart, by fighter jets and air defense systems.
Just before launching a drone as part of the attacks, the speaker identifies the launch as “part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, the name of the operation given by Hamas to its surprise assault on southern Israel on October 7.
During one drone launch, a piece of the projectile, about one-fifth the size of the aircraft, falls out of the drone shortly after takeoff. A voice in the background shouts something after the incident. A similar occurrence takes place later in the video, but it is not clear if the video shows the same event from two different angles or if the video shows two separate incidents.
ABC News in a report said, Yemen’s Houthi rebels for the first time Tuesday claimed missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, drawing their main sponsor Iran closer into the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and further raising the risks of a regional conflict erupting.
The Houthis had been suspected of an attack earlier this month targeting Israel by sending missiles and drones over the crucial shipping lane of the Red Sea, an assault that saw the US Navy shoot down the projectiles.
On October 16, 2023, Blitz in an exclusive report titled ‘Yemeni terrorists want hundreds of drone bombs to attack Israel’ exposed in details about Yemeni Houthis frantic bids of buying hundreds of drone-borne explosives.
