IRGC Mouthpieces Comment on Israel-Houthi Conflict

Recent exchanges of fire between Yemen’s Houthis and Israel may not change the course of the war in Gaza but may impact Iran’s relations with Arab states. Pro-Houthi Yemeni nationals residing in Iran, who  analyze Yemeni politics, are increasingly vocal in their criticism of Arab states intercepting Yemeni drones and missiles targeting Israel. It is not known if the quoted analysts represent their own viewpoints or those of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

• July 22: IRGC mouthpiece Mashregh News commented on the Houthi targeting of a residential building in Tel Aviv:  
• “On Friday July 19, the Yemeni army, in an act in support of the people of Gaza and answering the crimes of the occupiers, in a unique and special operation, targeted the self-proclaimed capital of the Zionists, in a precise and successful operation. In this surprise operation, the resistance fighters introduced a new drone … killing and wounding at least eight people … This new and powerful flying object of the Yemenis, which is called Jaffa, traveled more than 2,200 kilometers from Saada governorate … and passed through all the air defense systems of the United States, Britain, and subservient regimes, such as Jordan, Arabia, and Egypt, reached the occupied lands and surprised the Zionists as much as the October 7 operation … Air defense systems of the Zionists did not manage to detect the drone, demonstrating their fiasco and the fact that Tel Aviv is no longer safe … Responding to Yemen, the Zionist regime is trying to target fuel sources in a country already sanctioned and embargoed … An initiative defeated at the outset.”     
• July 22: IRGC mouthpiece Tasnim News delivered a similar account of the Yemeni operation under the headline: “A Yemeni Dagger Strikes the Heart of Tel Aviv.”  
• July 22: Centrist Iranian Students’ News Agency quoted a group of Yemeni analysts, who commented on Israeli air raids against the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah on July 20: 
  • Abd al-Rahman Rajeh, president of the Yemeni Association in Iran, said: “The air raids were not directed against a military or strategic center but a civilian target … which demonstrates Israel’s weakness.” Turning to the role of Saudi Arabia, Rajeh said: “It is the duty of every Islamic and Arab country to support the people of Gaza … In recent months, several missiles and drones, which Ansarullah fired against the occupied lands, were shut down in the airspaces of countries, which recently gave Israeli fighter planes access to their air spaces so they could attack Hodeidah … The land of certain Arab states is totally given to the United States … so U.S. listening stations help protect the Zionist regime.”

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