Al-Houthi said that the number of targeting operations during the last two weeks reached 14 operations with 36 missiles and drones - Getty

The leader of the Houthi group in Yemen, Abdul Malik Al Houthi, announced today, Thursday, that 98 ships have been targeted in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean since the group’s operations began last November.

In a televised speech by the Houthi leader broadcast by the group’s Al-Masirah satellite channel, Al-Houthi said: “Our front in Yemen continues military operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, all the way to the Indian Ocean.”

14 operations in the last two weeks

He revealed that the number of ships targeted by the group had reached “98, between Israeli, American, and British.”

Al-Houthi added that the number of targeting operations during the last two weeks reached 14 operations with 36 missiles and drones.

He continued, saying: “We assure the Americans, the British, and everyone else that no one can ever stop our operations in support of Gaza.”

In solidarity with Gaza, which is facing Israeli aggression with American support, the Houthi group has begun, since November 2023, targeting Israeli or related cargo ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, stressing its determination to continue its operations until the end of the war on the Strip.

As Washington and London began, since the beginning of this year, launching raids on “Houthi sites” in Yemen in response to their attacks, the “Houthi” announced that it now considered all American and British ships among its military targets, and expanded its attacks to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Houthi comments on the Iranian response

Regarding the Iranian response to Israel, Al-Houthi said in his speech, “The Iranian operation represents useful and direct support for the Palestinian people and the mujahideen in Gaza.”

Tehran carried out a direct and unprecedented attack on Israel, as part of “legitimate self-defense” after the destruction of its consulate headquarters in Damascus on the first of this month in an Israeli strike that led to the killing of seven commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Late Saturday, it launched more than 300 missiles and drones with a total payload of 85 tons. Israel said it was able to intercept almost all of them with the help of its allies, causing only limited damage.

Al-Houthi considered that “the Iranian response was important and strong and for important goals,” and pointed out that “the axis of resistance participated in the response from various supporting fronts,” as he put it.

This is the first attack launched by Iran directly from its territory on Israel, and not through groups loyal to it, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The United States and Britain imposed broad sanctions on Iran's military drone program on Thursday, in response to the Tehran attack.