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Iran-backed Houthis’ actions go beyond domestic conflict — Yemen’s PM

Shaya Mohsen al-Zindani says Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia "cannot be separated from the military escalation" on Yemen’s Red Sea coast

RABAT, September 16. /TASS/. Military activities by the Iran-backed Ansar Allah (Houthi) rebel movement, which operates against government forces in Yemen’s southwest, are no longer part of a domestic conflict, Shaya Mohsen al-Zindani, prime minister of the internationally recognized Yemeni government, said.

The Houthis’ move to intensify military operations is "no longer an internal military matter, but rather represents a comprehensive threat to national and regional security," he said, according to Al Jazeera. Al-Zindani sees what he called "Iran’s systematic support" for the Houthis "as a platform for threatening regional security and international interests."

In this regard, he pointed out that Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia "cannot be separated from the military escalation" on Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

The situation in Yemen escalated sharply in early September, when the rebel movement launched an offensive in the country’s southwest. At the same time, it began carrying out missile and drone strikes on Red Sea coastal areas and the outskirts of the city of Taiz, seeking to sever access routes to the port of Mocha and advance toward areas along the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Ansar Allah Political Bureau member Hizam al-Assad confirmed to TASS on September 12 that the Houthis had concluded an operation to take control of areas in western Yemen adjacent to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.