Yemeni parliament says Sana’a determined to counter foreign military presence in regional waters
The Yemeni parliament has reiterated the country’s resolve to counter any military presence of the US and the UK in regional waters, a day after members of the Yemeni navy were killed in an attack by US forces in the Red Sea.
A statement issued by the Yemeni parliament on Monday said the United States is seeking an escalation of hostilities in the Arab world amid a conflict in Palestine where the Israeli regime’s aggression on Gaza has prompted attacks on Israeli and US interests in the Arab countries of the region.
“By attacking Yemen’s ships, the US is seeking to expand conflicts in the Arab world so that it can support savage killings committed against the Palestinian nation,” said the statement.
American and Yemeni officials have confirmed that three Yemeni ships sunk and 10 Yemeni officers were killed in the Red Sea as a result of clashes on Sunday between US and Yemeni naval forces.
Yemen’s ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement has organized attacks on ships linked to the Israeli regime since the aggression on Gaza began in early October.
The attacks are aimed at forcing the Israelis and their allies to stop the aggression that has left nearly 22,000 people dead in Gaza.
The Yemenis have vowed they would take revenge for the Sunday attacks on their ships while they have reiterated that such attacks would only cause an escalation in their anti-Israeli operations.
Regional countries have also warned that a failure to stop the war in Gaza would cause the conflict to spread to other parts of the region.
That comes as reports on Monday suggested that the attacks on Yemeni ships had emboldened US allies to enter the conflict in the Red Sea.
British officials said they were planning to join a US-led maritime coalition in the region to counter what it called threats from the Houthis.
Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in an article published in the Daily Telegraph that the United Kingdom was “willing to take direct action” against the Houthis.
