Amid Escalating Tension In Red Sea, Senior Houthi Officials: 'U.S. Has No Rights In Red Sea;' Yemen's Territorial Waters 'Will Become Graveyard For Israeli Ships If They Violate Yemeni Sovereignty'

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here. 

Following the December 3, 2023 attacks by the Houthi Ansar Allah movement against three commercial ships in the Red Sea and against the Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer USS CARNEY – which responded to distress calls and provided assistance – on the same day, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement in which it asserted, among other things that, "These attacks represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security. They have jeopardized the lives of international crews representing multiple countries around the world… The United States will consider all appropriate responses in full coordination with its international allies and partners."[1] At the same time, Israeli media reported that following the Houthi attacks, Israel was sending ships and submarines to the Red Sea.[2]

Senior Houthi officials dismissed all these reports and stated that the U.S. cannot threaten to respond to Houthi actions since "it has no rights in the Red Sea." They threatened that Yemen's territorial waters "will become a graveyard for Israeli ships, if they dare to violate Yemen's sovereignty." Furthermore, the Lebanese Al-Akhbar daily, which is affiliated with Hizbullah, quoted an anonymous "military source" in Sanaa as saying that, "the movement of the foreign forces in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden is being monitored… and any American, British, or Israeli exploit will be met with a staggering response that will surprise the enemy."

The following are details from the reports referred to above:

On December 3, 2023, in a post on his Telegram channel, Houthi Supreme Political Council member Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi ridiculed a statement issued by CENTCOM that read, "The United States will consider all appropriate responses," saying that the U.S. has no rights in the Red Sea and therefore it can't declare that it "reserves the right to respond." He added that when the U.S. agrees to the presence of a North Korean submarine or a Chinese aircraft carrier adjacent to the Florida coast – "only then will we consider bringing the issue of agreement to the idea of the legitimacy of its presence in the territorial waters of the Red Sea as a referendum in Yemen.[3]

In a subsequent series of posts shared by Al-Houthi on the following day, he wrote that the Houthis are not afraid "and are not relating to the enemies and their mercenaries. Furthermore, the more they are hurting, the more we welcome that." In another post he wrote that the threat to establish a new force (against the Houthis) "highlights the failure of the coalition that was created in the past against the Yemeni people, prior to the current direct confrontation with the [Israeli] entity. What they have not managed to achieve in the nine years of American-Saudi aggression they won't be able to achieve in the future."[4]

Also on December 4, 2023, a member of the Houthi Ansar Allah political bureau, Hezam Al-Asad, tweeted in Arabic and in Hebrew that "every Zionist ship in the Red Sea constitutes a legitimate target and a fitting opportunity for our naval forces to attack it and destroy it, for as long as the aggression continues against the members of our people in Gaza."[5]

An article published on December 5, in the Lebanese Al-Akhbar daily, quoted remarks made in the media by Houthi coastal defense chief Major General Muhammad Ali Al-Qadiri, in response to reports that Israel had sent forces to the Red Sea. Al-Qadiri threatened that "the territorial waters [of Yemen] in the Red Sea will become a graveyard for Israeli ships if they dare to violate the sovereignty of Yemen." He added that according to the laws of Yemen, its forces are responsible for the defense of [Yemen's] territorial waters in the Red Sea and for the international trade routes in the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait.

The daily also quoted "a military source in Sanaa" which stated that "the movement of foreign forces in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden is monitored and their coordinates are updated round the clock, as required by the campaign." The same source threatened that any American, British, or Israeli exploit will be met with a staggering response that will surprise the enemy."[6]