Houthi leader again promises to take part in any future conflict between Hezbollah and Israel

Abdel Malek al Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Houthi insurgent group.

In a recent interview with the Lebanese publication Al Akhbar, Abdel Malek al Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi insurgent group, again promised his forces would fight alongside Hezbollah in a future conflict with Israel in Lebanon.

“If there is a new war with Israel, we will not hesitate to send the fighters,” al Houthi says. He follows this statement up by saying that there are “thousands of fighters from the sons of the tribes excited to fight against Israel.” These comments were directed to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah.

Additionally, referring to the Houthi’s relationship to both Hezbollah and Iran, the Houthi leader said that “we consider this the responsible, correct, and natural position according to our Islamic affiliation and because of high interest to our nation.” He then states “we see in our brothers in the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah brothers [who] won the honor of liberation and [who] carried the flag of the Ummah in the face of American hegemony and have taken a sincere stand with the Palestinian people.”

This is not the first time al Houthi has made this promise. Last summer, he said “The Yemeni nation is ready to take part in any future confrontation against the Israeli enemy.” He continued by saying that Israel should “take us into consideration in all future conflicts with Hezbollah and the Palestinian people.” Houthi also addressed Hassan Nasrallah in this statement, which was later republished on Hezbollah’s Al Manar website.

“Your bet on the Yemenis is proper. Israel must beware the Yemeni participation in any of its military confrontations with Hezbollah or the Palestinian resistance,” Houthi said to Nasrallah. Houthi’s speech came one month after Nasrallah mentioned that in any future war with Israel, the Jewish state would be met with resistance by fighters from “Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.”

Caleb Weiss is an editor of FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

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1 Comment

  • irebukeu says:

    Wow, Talk about bad moves. Do these people think this is a game Israel is going to take a chance in losing? Wow. That nonsense they utter every time they take out a Saudi target is going to ensure lots more of them get killed in the mountains. They should figure out how they are going to provide drinking water for the Houthi people instead of trying to get them all killed. No, these people would rather do this. They gonna get ‘droned out’.

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis