The Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the continued military interventions of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Lebanese Hezbollah in the internal affairs of Yemen, and their role in supporting the Houthi militias and enabling them to continue their attacks on the people and threaten regional and international security. The Foreign Ministry explained in a statement on Tuesday that the presence of 21 foreign experts from the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah working with the Houthis reveals the scale and seriousness of this intervention, and that it has gone beyond funding, arming and training to direct supervision and participation in planning and managing operations and building the military capabilities of the militia.
The statement stressed that this illegal foreign military presence represents a blatant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and the principles of international law, stressing the Iranian regime’s responsibility for managing this interference through elements of the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, and for harnessing Yemeni lands to serve its regional projects at the expense of the security and stability of the Yemenis. The Ministry confirmed that the involvement of these elements in supporting the Houthi military operations contributed to the killing of Yemenis and their forced displacement from their areas of residence, and exacerbated their humanitarian suffering, especially in Taiz, noting that the continued siege of it and attacks on civilians double the size of the humanitarian catastrophe and threaten the basic components of life.
The statement warned that the risks of this intervention go beyond Yemeni territory, posing a direct threat to regional and international security, freedom of navigation and global trade in the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The Ministry pointed out that continuing to support the Houthis with ballistic missiles, drones, and explosive speedboats, and providing them with the necessary expertise to develop and use these capabilities, increases the risks of targeting ships and threatening vital sea lanes and the interests of countries in the region and the world. The Ministry called on the international community, first and foremost the Security Council, to assume its responsibilities and condemn these interventions, and to take practical measures to stop the flow of weapons and military expertise to the Houthis, enforce its relevant decisions, and “hold accountable the countries, entities and individuals involved in supporting these activities,” in accordance with international law, in a way that protects the sovereignty of Yemen and the security of its people, and preserves regional and international security.
The head of the Yemeni Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, confirmed that “the Iranian regime seeks to compensate for the decline in the influence of its arms in a number of countries in the region by intensifying its investment in the Houthi militia, taking advantage of Yemen’s strategic location and proximity to international trade corridors.”
Al-Alimi's statements came during his meeting with Clemens Hach, Director of Middle East and North Africa Affairs at the German Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday, according to the official Yemeni News Agency.
The president warned of the danger of the growing role of Iranian Revolutionary Guard networks participating in “the Houthi war against the Yemeni people, threatening international navigation, and turning Yemeni lands into a platform for blackmailing the regional and international communities.” Al-Alimi explained that these networks include dozens of experts “who participate in planning and managing operations, developing missile and drone capabilities, and threatening international navigation,” adding that this “reveals interference that goes beyond financing and arming to direct participation in managing the war and threatening waterways.”
The president added that allowing the transfer of more expertise, weapons, and technologies to these militias “will double the cost of deterring them, prolong the suffering of the Yemenis, and make the security of the region and international navigation dependent on the calculations of cross-border sabotage projects.” Al-Alimi stressed that Operation “Yemen Dawn” will continue to fully achieve its goals in restoring state institutions and extending its authority over its entire territory with the support of the “Coalition to Support Legitimacy” led by Saudi Arabia, which renewed its appreciation for its “comprehensive economic and humanitarian support in these exceptional circumstances.”
The President referred to “war crimes and gross human rights violations committed by the Houthis, including killings, abuse, kidnapping, forced disappearance, and detention of UN workers and human rights activists,” noting that “the danger of these militias has exceeded in its scope and tools the dangers of the Al-Qaeda and ISIS organizations.” “This requires international dealing with it at the level of this threat.”
Al-Alimi touched on the latest developments in the local situation, and the Houthis’ escalation on all fronts, including “their stifling siege of the residents of Taiz, and the bombing of its neighborhoods and civilian facilities,” appreciating “Germany’s firm positions alongside the Yemeni people and their legitimate government, and its rejection of attacks on civilian facilities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.” The President looked forward to “an active German role in mobilizing consensus within the (European Union) in order to include the Houthi militias on the terrorist list, and to encourage member states to take whatever measures their national legislation allows against them, their criminal networks, and their incitement platforms in various parts of the world.”
The Yemeni Ministry of Interior confirmed, on Tuesday, the presence of 21 foreign experts: 14 from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and 7 from the Lebanese Hezbollah, who manage and support the operations of the Houthi militias, and threaten the security of Yemen and international navigation, led by a soldier who appears as an “ambassador of a country.”
The Yemeni Minister of Interior, Major General Ibrahim Haidan, explained that the nature of the experts’ tasks “reveals the development of external interference; From financing, arming, and training, to direct supervision, participation in planning, managing operations, and building the military capabilities of the Houthis, in parallel with political, organizational, social, and media activities aimed at consolidating long-term influence, and building loyalty structures and networks to remove Yemen from its Arab surroundings.”
Haidan added, in a statement published by the official news agency, that this list of experts “is led by a soldier from the Revolutionary Guard who appears before the cameras as an ambassador of a country that claims to respect international law,” adding that the experts are distributed among 6 Yemeni governorates, 8 in Hodeidah, 4 in each of Sanaa and Saada, two in Hajjah, the same in Amran, and one in Al-Khawkhah District.
The statement indicated that “the experts’ specializations include operations management, command and control, ballistic missiles and unmanned aviation, monitoring and communications systems, electronic warfare, supply networks and smuggling of military components, in addition to coordinating naval operations and selecting targets for commercial ships, developing explosive boats and engineering self-propelled submarines, training members in planting mines, and military tactics related to city sieges and street warfare.”
Haidan stated that the formation includes a general supervisor of operations, a strategic advisor, the director of the joint operations room, senior and medium-ranking officers specialized in drone workshops and smart and ballistic missiles, naval experts, and specialists in radars, communications and electronic warfare, indicating that “the list does not represent a training mission, but rather a complete staff.”
The statement warned that these activities “threaten the security of the region, the lives of sailors, freedom of navigation in Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea, trade lines and energy supplies, and also portend the transfer of military expertise and technology to other terrorist groups that share extremist ideological militias.”
Haidan pointed out that “external interference is paid by the Yemenis, especially the people of the areas under the control of the militia,” citing the Houthi siege of Taiz as one of the results of the presence of experts, and “witness to the blatant external interference and support for armed arms in the region.” “This places the responsibility of the international community to take action to stop these interventions and practices.”
The minister stressed that this presence undermines regional and international security, “by providing the Houthi militias with qualitative weapons and the technical expertise necessary to manufacture and assemble components of ballistic missiles, drones, cruise missiles, and explosive speedboats,” noting that it “turns Yemen into a testing field for developing weapons and measuring their accuracy and effects.”
Haidan stressed "the importance of classifying the Houthi militias as a terrorist organization by the international community, dismantling their financing and arming networks, and implementing the arms embargo established under Security Council Resolutions (2216) and (2624)."
He also stressed that “the Ministry will continue to perform its duties and support national efforts within the (Yemen Dawn) operation.” To restore state institutions, with Sanaa as its capital.
