Yemen’s Houthi rebels are considering resuming strikes on US targets in the Middle East and intensifying attacks on Israel in support of Iran, Yemeni security sources said on Sunday.
The sources, based in Sanaa and Beirut, told The National that the group’s leadership is considering the escalation in response to the US's apparent military support for Israel.
"The Yemeni [Houthi] leadership may resort to escalating its confrontation against aggression in the region," said one of the sources.
"There is information that Israeli aircraft are using US carriers in the northern Red Sea to launch attacks on Iran, and that refuelling is being conducted in the skies over northern Syria and northern Iraq."
Another source said: "The Houthis are seeing the US again as a legitimate target now."
Last month, US President Donald Trump said the Iran-backed Houthis “capitulated” and that America would stop striking the rebels after they agreed to cease attacking ships in the Red Sea.
Badr Al Busaidi, Oman's Foreign Minister, confirmed later that efforts to de-escalate the situation caused by the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, had resulted in a ceasefire between the two sides.
However, the recent Israeli offensive against Iran could prompt the rebels to resume attacks on US forces in solidarity with Tehran, which has come under Israeli fire since Friday and responded with missile strikes on Israel.
Taking advantage
On Sunday, the Yemeni rebels claimed to have launched missiles at Israel in co-ordination with Iran, in the first acknowledged military action in support of Tehran by one of its regional proxies since the start of Israeli attacks.
The Houthis launched ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv in the previous 24 hours, the group's spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree said in an announcement reported by the rebel-aligned Saba news agency.
The region is braced for a protracted conflict after Israel's surprise bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites killed several senior generals and nuclear scientists. Iran responded by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles at Iran, and neither side has shown any sign of backing down.
The Houthis, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, began launching drone and missile attacks on Israel after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Hezbollah was once considered Iran's first line of defence against Israeli attacks, but Israel's retaliatory strikes against the group last year killed its political and military leaders and largely destroyed its arsenal. Lebanese officials have urged Hezbollah not to respond to the Israeli attacks on Iran and the group has assured them it would not, security sources told The National on Saturday.
Iran-backed groups in Iraq, who also launched attacks on Israel over the war in Gaza, have responded to the attacks on Iran by calling for the accelerated departure of US troops from the country, with the powerful Kataib Hezbollah warning of “additional wars in the region”.
Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen in recent months.
"It is not unlikely that Yemen's attacks will expand if Israel's escalating crimes against our people – including against Iran – are not stopped. Israel brings ruin to the entire region, without exception. Isn’t it likely that Israel will target Iraq next?," said one of the sources close to thinking of the Houthi rebels.
"It is only natural that the Yemenis take advantage of Israel being preoccupied with facing waves of Iranian strikes," added the source.
"Applying pressure on the Israeli entity from multiple directions, fronts, and avenues, militarily, politically, and economically, helps deter the Israeli government and its crimes across the region."
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Abu Dhabi GP starting grid
1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
8 Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
9 Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
11 Carlos Sainz (Renault)
12 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
13 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14 Sergio Perez (Force India)
15 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
16 Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
17 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
18 Stoffe Vandoorne (McLaren)
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Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
How to book
Call DHA on 800342
Once you are registered, you will receive a confirmation text message
Present the SMS and your Emirates ID at the centre
DHA medical personnel will take a nasal swab
Check results within 48 hours on the DHA app under ‘Lab Results’ and then ‘Patient Services’
MEFCC information
Tickets range from Dh110 for an advance single-day pass to Dh300 for a weekend pass at the door. VIP tickets have sold out. Visit www.mefcc.com to purchase tickets in advance.
