Heavy Yemen: Houthis threaten attacks on Netanyahu's residence
The Ansar Allah movement, better known as the Houthis, issued a harsh statement: key Israeli government facilities will not remain out of the reach of their armed forces. Even the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under threat. This was reported to Izvestia by sources in the movement. Earlier, the Houthis announced the launch of a ballistic missile at an oil tanker in the Red Sea. The strike took place on August 31, after Israel confirmed the killing of the chairman of the Houthi government and several ministers as a result of the bombing of Sanaa. Netanyahu promised to continue the attacks until the remaining members of the leadership are completely eliminated.
Israel tightens Netanyahu's security measures
The Ansar Allah movement has announced a ballistic missile attack on the oil tanker Scarlet Ray, which it considers Israeli. The conflict escalated after the Israeli bombing of Sanaa on August 28, when Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahawi and government ministers responsible for managing the Houthi-controlled territory of Yemen were killed.
Sources in Ansar Allah told Izvestia that the response of the Yemeni forces to the deaths of their government leaders would be "targeted and painful."
— Yemen will not react emotionally to an attack on a civilian government, as some might think. Instead, the forces of Sanaa carefully prepare high-quality and painful operations that will cause serious damage. Israeli Government facilities will not remain beyond the range of our armed forces' fire. The list of Sanaa's targets may expand, and Netanyahu's residences will not be safe places, the movement noted.
According to the Israeli state television and radio company Kan, the security measures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz and other senior officials have been significantly strengthened.
Yemen remains split between the three largest centers of political influence. The Sana'a alliance with the Hussite Ansar Allah movement and the previously ruling General People's Congress party, led by former President Saleh, is based in the capital and controls about 70-80% of the country's population. The Houthis' opponent is the Arab coalition, split into two competing camps — one, in fact, oversees Saudi Arabia, the other — the UAE. The internationally recognized Yemeni government is represented by the Riyadh-backed presidential Governing Council, headed by Chairman Rashad al-Alimi, and the government controls about 70% of the country's area, including oil and gas fields in the southern provinces of Marib and Hadramaut. The Southern Transitional Council (UPC), headed by General Aidarus al-Zubeidi, is the Emirati wing of the Arab coalition and is based in Aden.
Sergei Serebrov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia that among those killed in the Israeli air strike on Sanaa were representatives of not only the Houthis, but also another part of the coalition government.
— Among those whose deaths were reported are the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister, who did not belong to the Ansar Allah movement, but represented Saleh's General People's Congress party. If the aim of the strike was to weaken this particular component of the coalition government, then Israel has achieved it. However, the result will be a strengthening of the Houthi element of power," the expert stressed.
Mohammed Miftah, representing the Houthi unit, has already become acting prime minister, the expert stressed. "Previously, the government focused mainly on economic and organizational tasks, but now ideology is infiltrating the cabinet. This shift is dangerous even for the intra-Yemeni relations between the north and the south," Sergei Serebrov concluded.
The armed conflict between Israel and the Houthis is escalating
The Israel Defense Forces said that the attack on the Ansar Allah military facility was the largest blow to the leadership of the movement during the entire conflict period. Prime Minister Netanyahu said that most of the Houthi government had been killed, and he promised to continue the operation until the remaining members of the leadership were eliminated.
Last month, the Houthis noticeably increased their activity against Israel. On August 22, their armed forces attacked Ben Gurion Airport, as well as targets in Tel Aviv and Ashkelon. According to Israeli media, for the first time, a rocket with a cluster warhead was used during the shelling from Yemeni territory. In response, Israeli aircraft attacked a number of energy facilities in Sanaa.
The Houthis, for their part, assured that the Israeli attacks had not weakened their combat capability. "We will respond to aggression and expand operations in support of Gaza until the strikes stop and the blockade is lifted. Every attack on Sanaa only strengthens our resolve," Khuzam al—Assad, a member of the Ansar Allah political bureau, said earlier in an interview with Izvestia.
Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip
The resumption of attacks from Yemen occurred in the spring, after the breakdown of the truce in the Gaza Strip. Then the Houthis fired about 40 ballistic missiles and used dozens of drones. The intensity of the strikes decreased after a direct military clash between Israel and Iran, but recent events show a new round of escalation.
Against this background, Ansar Allah is tightening its domestic policy. On August 31, representatives of the movement detained 11 UN staff members in the controlled territories. This was announced by the special envoy of the Secretary General of the World Organization for Yemen, Hans Grundberg.
"I strongly condemn the new wave of arbitrary detentions of UN staff in Yemen and Sanaa, as well as the forced entry into UN buildings and confiscation of property. At least 11 employees have been detained, and 23 more remain in custody since 2021 and 2023," he said in a statement.
The Yemeni crisis, which until recently was localized within the country, is increasingly intertwined with the Middle East agenda. The Houthis openly declare that their military operations are part of the struggle in support of Gaza, and the Israeli strikes on Sanaa only expand the "list of targets of the movement."
According to Serebrov, further development of the conflict is fraught with consequences not only for Yemen and Israel, but also for the entire region. "This conflict can turn into a very big problem, because the Yemenis view the Palestinian issue not only as an ethnic one, but also as a civilizational one — as the struggle of Islam against Zionism. From this point of view, if the fighting escalates, the attention of the entire Arab and Islamic world will be drawn to the confrontation. And it is almost impossible to avoid escalation," the expert noted.
— Yemen traditionally occupies one of the leading places in the Arab-Muslim civilization as a kind of cradle, along with Mecca, Medina and Syria. Therefore, a direct clash between Israel and Yemen will lead to polarization along the civilizational axis," he concluded.
Against this background, there is a growing risk that attacks on ships in the Red Sea will become regular, and new attacks may target not only ships associated with Israel, but also infrastructure in the Jewish state itself.
With regard to the internal Yemeni conflict, Russia takes a balanced position, calling for a cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of existing differences through negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations. Moscow is providing the necessary support to Hans Grundberg in his efforts to resume dialogue between the conflicting parties. The Russian Federation maintains contacts with both the internationally recognized government of Yemen and the Houthi movement, whose representatives last visited Moscow in July 2024.
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