Latest Updates On Yemen, 17 December 2023

1-On December 10, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas issued a statement, expressing appreciation for the Yemeni armed forces’ decision to prevent the sailing of Israeli ships and any other ship heading for Israeli ports. Hamas emphasized that this courageous act is in support for the people of Gaza and in response to Israeli-American aggression, urging Islamic and Arab countries to use all their capabilities to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and to stop the war and the massacre of its residents.

2-On December 14, the British Navy announced that it had sent the HMS Diamond destroyer to the Red Sea to strengthen the defensive positions of the Combined Task Force (CTF-153). This ship has passed through the Suez Canal.

3-On December 14, member of the Yemeni Supreme Political Council Hizam Al-Assad said in response to the deployment of the Sa’ar 6-class corvette in the Red Sea that they will not dare because they are cowards and unwilling to lose $430 million. Perhaps by the help of God, the fate of the Sa’ar 6-class corvette in the Red Sea will be similar to the fate of the Sa’ar-4 in the Mediterranean Sea. 

It should be noted that during the 33-day war, the Sa’ar-4 corvette of the Israeli regime was hit by a missile fired by Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah. This incident led to the breakdown of the naval blockade of Lebanon and the disruption of calculations by the Israeli army’s naval forces in the war against Hezbollah, resulting in the loss of four Israeli soldiers.

4-A US military official, in a conversation with Qatari TV network Al Jazeera, said that the MSC PALATIUM III has been hit by Ansar Allah missiles. The USS Mason, which is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy, is on its way to respond to this attack in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

5-According to reports from Western media, German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd AG has also announced that the movement of all its ships through the Red Sea will be temporarily halted for the next three days.

6-Lieutenant General Mohammed Al-Qadiri, the commander of the Yemeni Coastal Defense Forces, said that the operation against the MSC ALANYA container ship in the west of Hanish Island was carried out. Our objective is to prevent the movement of ships towards Israel, not to sink them. However, we also have suitable weapons to sink them if needed. If the Israelis do not respond to demands for the cessation of aggression against the Gaza Strip, a third phase will come, which will be difficult for them.

Al-Qadiri went on to say that we are not afraid of the threats by the United States and are ready to defend Yemen against any aggression. We are monitoring the movements of the US in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. There are groups of mercenaries (loyal to the Saudi-backed resigned government in Yemen) who will be treated differently if proven to have collaborated with the Israeli enemy.

7-Sa’ada:

As a result of artillery attacks and shellings by the Saudi-led coalition, 22 people, including 12 African migrants, were injured, including border regions of Shada’a and Manbah.

8- On December 15, the people of Yemen gathered and marched in cities under the control of the Ansar Allah movement in their eleventh march in support for the people and resistance groups of Palestine with the motto of “With Gaza Until Victory”. In the final statement of this march, the people of Yemen called for the continued support of Palestine and backed the Yemeni armed forces’ military operations against the Israeli regime. They also demanded the boycott of US and Israeli goods by Islamic countries.