DOHA, January 9. /TASS/. More than 800,000 people have completed military training as part of the mobilization conducted by the Houthi rebels of Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, the group's leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said.
"We are carrying out mobilization activities in preparation for fighting, and the number of people trained has surpassed 800,000," al-Houthi said in an address broadcast on the Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV channel. "If we add these fighters to the regular forces, their total number will far exceed one million," he added.
On January 11, 2024, al-Houthi announced mobilization in most provinces controlled by his supporters in Yemen. The movement has repeatedly expressed its willingness to join military operations in the Gaza Strip on the side of the Palestinian Hamas movement. The Houthi leader later stated that the mobilization and related activities would continue until the conflict in the Gaza Strip comes to an end. On February 1, 2024, he reported that at least 600,000 people had received military training during the three weeks of mobilization.
After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. Since last November, the Houthis have attacked dozens of civilian vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.