Houthi leader slams BBC for describing group's naval activity as ‘much ado about nothing’

Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said Houthis will continue to target vessels in the Red Sea due to Israeli crimes against the people of Gaza. In a BBC interview on Friday, he said Houthi attacks have paralysed Israeli maritime transport. When questioned about whether Houthis were concerned Israel would retaliate beyond its borders, he accused the media of scaremongering on Israel’s behalf and making them out to seem like ‘an invincible army’. Houthis in Yemen have forced at least 12 shipping companies to suspend operations through the Red Sea. Houthi attacks have rerouted a significant portion of global trade by forcing freight companies to sail around Africa, resulting in higher costs and delays for energy, food and consumer goods deliveries. Houthis warned they will block passage of Israel-bound ships of any nationality unless Gaza gets the food and medicines it needs, as a show of support and solidarity with Palestine.

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A member of the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi, criticised a BBC presenter after she described the group’s actions in the Red Sea in support of Gaza as “much ado about nothing.”

The presenter said that what is happening in the Red Sea has not led the Israeli occupation to stop the war on Gaza, which means that it is just a commotion.

Al-Houthi responded by saying: “If it did not affect them, then why did they form an international coalition?”

Al-Houthi added: “What are you basing your information on? There is a complete paralysis of the Israeli ports in occupied Palestine. You are the one who is making ado with your about nothing questions.”

When asked why the Houthis got involved when they are not located near Gaza, Al-Houthi responded: “So Biden and Netanyahu live in the same apartment? And the French president lives on the same floor? And the UK prime minister lives in the same building? Or are they thousands of miles away from Israel?”

Yemen’s Houthis have been targeting Israel-bound ships in response to Israel’s ongoing genocidal war against the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, in which more than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed.

The two largest shipping companies in the world, MSC and Maersk, have also suspended shipping through the Red Sea since mid-December, and replaced the route with the Cape of Good Hope in southern South Africa.

On 18 December US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin announced the formation of a naval force to counter the Houthis’ attacks, however, many countries including Spain, Italy and France have withdrawn from the coalition.

Read: China’s COSCO suspends shipping to Israel

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