Yemen: We’ll Turn Red Sea into Graveyard after US Announces Maritime Coalition

By Staff, Agencies

Yemen’s defense minister denounced the formation of a US-led maritime task force in the Red Sea to protect the passage of merchant vessels bound for the “Israeli” entiy, cautioning the Western alliance that any assault on Yemeni soil will have dire consequences.

“We are in possession of munitions and military gear that can sink your warships, submarines and aircraft carriers,” Major General Mohammad al-Atifi said on Monday.

He further underlined that “The Yemeni Armed Forces will turn the Red Sea into a graveyard of the US-led coalition if the alliance decides to take any action against Yemen.”

Earlier on Monday, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced the formation of the coalition – including Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, Spain and the UK – to patrol the Red Sea in response to Yemeni strikes on ships bound for the “Israeli”-occupied territories, which came in retaliation for the Zionist entity’s aggression on Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement has pledged to confront the US-led coalition, stressing that Washington will experience both military and prestige defeats if it attacks Yemen.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces have painful options, which they will employ in response to any act of aggression against their homeland. We only target ships that are either "Israeli"-owned or heading towards ‘Israeli’ ports,” said Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah’s political bureau.

The senior Ansarullah official underlined that Yemeni retaliatory operations will expand to hit depths of the “Israeli”-occupied territories if the “Israeli” genocidal war on Gaza Strip does not stop.

Bukhaiti stressed that Yemen stands fairly committed to safe navigation at sea, adding, “We are only acting against the interests of the Zionist regime. We will confront any coalition that Washington establishes in the Red Sea.”

The senior Yemeni official noted that negotiations are underway through intermediaries with a number of countries, including the United States, to persuade Yemeni forces to stop their retaliatory operations.

Furthermore, the British oil and gas giant has halted all shipments of energy through the Red Sea after an increase in attacks on “Israel”-bound ships by the Yemeni Armed Forces in Yemen, including two further strikes on Monday.

BP said it had paused shipping in the region indefinitely, citing a “deteriorating security situation” amid tensions in the aftermath of the ongoing “Israeli” aggression on Gaza.