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By Tom O'Connor
Deputy Editor, National Security and Foreign Policy
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A source within Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, has shared with Newsweek a new warning for Israel after the group was hit by new airstrikes amid a conflict that has consumed the Middle East for more than 15 months.
"Our hand is longer than the hand of Israel, and we will continue our operations without stopping until the aggression on Gaza stops," the Ansar Allah source told Newsweek. "And we will continue targeting the Zionist war criminals."
The source added: "Our operations are ongoing and the response to the Israeli, American and British aggression is also ongoing. And we will not leave Gaza behind no matter what the challenges are and the outcome is for the righteous."
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The remarks came shortly after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced new airstrikes targeting several sites across Yemen, including the Hizaz power station in Sanaa, military infrastructure in Al-Hodeidah and port facilities in Ras Isa, on Friday. The attacks came in response to Ansar Allah's ongoing campaign of missile and drone strikes being waged against Israel due to its ongoing conflict with the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza.
"The State of Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself," the IDF said.
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Why It Matters
Ansar Allah has emerged as one of the most powerful factions of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, which joined the war launched by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. In addition to launching missiles and drones against Israel, the group, which considers itself the legitimate authority in Yemen since seizing the capital from the Saudi-backed government a decade ago, has also targeted commercial vessels accused of doing business with Israel throughout the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
"The Houthi terrorist regime is a central part of the Iranian axis of terror," the IDF said in its statement on Friday. "And their attacks on international shipping vessels and routes continue to destabilize the region and the wider world."
While other fronts have quieted with the ceasefire signed between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement in November and the fall of the Iran-aligned Syrian government the following month, Ansar Allah has defied strikes conducted by Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States to maintain operations until a ceasefire was reached in Gaza.
The latest operation against Israel involved the launching of drones that the IDF claimed to have intercepted over the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday.
Ansar Allah has also announced direct attacks against the enhanced U.S. military presence in the region, downing a number of advanced U.S. drones over the past year and claiming a new operation against the Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and other U.S. warships on Friday.
What to Know
Reports initially emerged Friday that the U.K. and the U.S. had participated in the Israeli strikes, however, a U.S. defense official denied any direct U.S. role in the operation.
"We are aware of the reports of strikes in Yemen and the messaging allegedly put out by the Israeli officials," the U.S. defense official told Newsweek. "However, we can confirm that the U.S. did not participate in any recent strikes today."
A spokesperson for the U.K. Defense Ministry confirmed to Newsweek that the country was "not involved in the attacks."
On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced "multiple precision strikes against two Iranian-backed Houthi underground Advanced Conventional Weapon (ACW) storage facilities within Houthi-controlled territories of Yemen."
"The Houthis used these facilities to conduct attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden," CENTCOM said at the time.
What People Are Saying
White House National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby speaking to reporters on Friday: "We're going to degrade Houthi capabilities as best we can because these recent strikes just underscore the fact that they still have some capability, quite frankly, long-range capability. So, we have taken a heavy toll on much of their capabilities but clearly we have not eliminated that."
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a statement issued on Friday: "While the Houthi terrorist regime operates as an independent terrorist organization, it relies on Iranian cooperation and funding to attack the State of Israel and its citizens. The IDF will continue to operate at any distance against any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens."
Ansar Allah military spokesperson Yahya Saree during a speech on Friday: "The Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of God Almighty, carried out several military operations during the past 48 hours, the most prominent of which was targeting the American aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and a number of its warships in the northern Red Sea region with a number of cruise missiles and drones. The was forced with its warships to leave the northern Red Sea region."
He added: "The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out an operation yesterday targeting a number of targets belonging to the Israeli enemy in the occupied Jaffa region with three drones. They were able to reach their targets successfully, thanks be to God."
What Happens Next
While hopes of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas were initially raised by both sides last month, the two warring parties appear to remain deadlocked in their opposing demands.
And with just 10 days until President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the region awaits his warning that "all hell will break out in the Middle East" if a deal to release around 100 hostages still held by Hamas was not reached before his inauguration.
In the absence of an agreement, Ansar Allah may prove to be one of the most challenging components of the Middle East crisis for Trump as their maritime warfare has also substantially raised shipping costs, driving up the price of consumer goods worldwide. In prior comments shared with Newsweek, the group has previously appealed to Trump directly to put an end to the conflict for the sake of the U.S. economy.
In the meantime, Kirby, in what was expected to be one of his final briefings, told reporters Friday that he believed the coalition established by the Biden administration to deter Ansar Allah attacks would "continue to operate to defend commercial shipping, but also, even if unilaterally from the United States do what we have to do to make it harder for the Houthis to pose a threat, not just to that shipping, but to the Israeli people."
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