Yemen’s Houthis are ready to restart attacks on Israel if there is an escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza and the ceasefire falls apart, the group’s leader said on Tuesday.
“Our hands are on the trigger, and we are ready to immediately escalate against the Israeli enemy if it returns to escalation in the Gaza Strip,” said Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, had disrupted Red Sea shipping by targeting Israeli-linked ships in response to the onslaught in Gaza and also began increasingly targeting Israeli territory with missiles and drones, and some got through Israel’s air defenses.
President Biden launched a bombing campaign against the Houthis in January 2024, which lasted a year and only escalated the situation as the Houthis expanded their attacks on shipping in response. All along, the Houthis said they would stop their attacks if there was a ceasefire in Gaza, and they were true to their word once the truce was reached in January.
But now that Israel is threatening to restart its genocidal war in Gaza, the region is again on the edge of a major war. Houthi attacks could lead to the Trump administration restarting the US bombing campaign in Yemen.
Iraqi Shia militias may also resume their drone attacks on Israel if the Israeli military escalates in Gaza. They could also start attacking US bases again due to US support for Israel.
From October 2023 until February 2024, US bases in Iraq and Syria came under hundreds of rocket and drone attacks due to US support for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. After three US troops were killed in an attack on Tower 22, a secretive base in Jordan on the Syrian border, Iran and the Iraqi government pressured the militias to stop, and the attacks became much less frequent.
