On January 17, 2024, in response to the U.S. State Department's previous-day re-designation of the Houthi Ansar Allah Movement as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group due to the group's repeated acts of aggression against ships in the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandab Strait,[1] the Secretary-General of the Iran-backed Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades, Abu Hussein Al-Hamidawi, published an open letter in support of the Houthis. In the letter, which was addressed to "the dear commander" Houthi leader Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi and the "brothers" in the Houthi movement, Al-Hamidawi warned that his group would view any attack against the Houthis as an attack against it as well.
It is "with pride and honor," the letter reads, that the Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades "accepts the announcement that [the Houthis] have been added to the list of [designated] terrorist groups held by the enemies of Allah, His prophets, and His martyrs, who also murder women and children, plunder the sustenance of the nations, and have dead hearts that are hard as stone…"
Al-Hamidawi added: "It is clear to us that the addition [of the Houthis] to the list of [designated] terrorist groups is the natural price for the honorable stance adopted [by the Houthis] regarding the causes of the nations and the oppressed throughout the world, and particularly the causes of Jerusalem and Palestine, which is one of the main causes in our time."
He warned: "We state this clearly to the entire world: We will view any attack against [the Houthis] on the part of any country or entity – big or small – as a direct act of aggression against us, and we will not be deterred by the challenges posed by anybody, regardless of their scope…"[2]
An excerpt from Al-Hamidawi's open letter to the Houthis. Source: Telegram.me/centerkaf, January 17, 2024.
