Hezbollah says security of all shipping harmed after US strikes on Yemen

The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Sunday U.S. actions in the Red Sea would harm the security of all shipping as the area had now become a conflict zone, saying the Houthis of Yemen would keep up attacks despite U.S. and British strikes.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose group is a leading part of an Iran-aligned regional alliance which includes the Houthis, said Houthi targeting of ships belonging to Israel or heading to its ports would continue.

“The more dangerous thing is what the Americans did in the Red Sea will harm the security of all maritime navigation, even the ships that are not going to Palestine, even the ships which are not Israeli, even the ships that have nothing to do with the matter, because the sea has become a theatre of fighting, missiles, drones and war ships,” he said.

“Security has been disrupted.”

U.S. and British forces on Friday launched dozens of air strikes against Houthi forces in retaliation for attacks on Red Sea shipping. The group says it took the action to support Palestinians under Israeli siege and attack in Gaza. Washington launched another strike overnight Friday-Saturday.

The Houthis have vowed to retaliate for the attacks.

The Red Sea crisis has fueled fears of a further escalation of the conflict that has rippled around the Middle East since war erupted between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel on Oct. 7.

Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran-backed militias in Iraq have all entered the fray since then, with Hezbollah firing at Israeli positions along the Lebanese-Israeli frontier, and Iraqi militias firing on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.

Source » reuters