The Houthis have directly tied their renewed attacks on shipping in the Red Sea on Tuesday to Israeli military action in Lebanon.
The statement came on the same day that Iran attacked Israel with ballistic missiles in an escalation of violence in the Middle East that is certain to have consequences for shipping.
TradeWinds reported earlier on Tuesday that the Houthis attacked two ships in the Red Sea in the first strikes by the Yemen-based militant group in a month.
Houthi military spokesman Yayha Saree said that the group will not stop its attacks on shipping as long as Israeli military operations continue in Lebanon and Gaza.
The statement represents an expansion of the group’s stated goals, which began in reaction to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza just over a year ago.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces continue to carry out their military operations and impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy,” Saree said on Tuesday, referring to the Houthi military.
After Israel attacked key officials of the militant group Hezbollah, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised address last week that his forces will not hesitate to support their counterparts in Lebanon, according to the Times of Israel.
The Iranian-backed Houthis then fired missiles at Israel over the weekend.
Israeli forces responded with an attack that caused damage at the port of Hodeidah, in the Houthi-controlled swathe of Yemen.
On Tuesday, Iran said attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon were the reason for a barrage of missiles fired into Israel.
It came a day after Israeli forces launched a ground operation in Lebanon that followed strikes on targets in Beirut and the country’s south.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the attack by Tehran was a response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others, according to CNN, which cited the Tasnim news agency.
