Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi leader Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, said Sunday the group had moved from demands to action under what he called a new formula of “blockade for blockade, escalation for escalation” in its confrontation with Saudi Arabia.
“Our options will escalate, God willing, and take more painful forms, and we will not retreat from our rights even if we pay with our lives,” al-Mashat said, according to the Telegram channel of Yemen’s Houthi-run presidency.
He said the Houthis were seeking an end to what he described as a Saudi blockade, the reopening of airports and ports, restoration of Yemen’s resources and compensation from Riyadh.
“Maritime navigation and international trade in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb are safe and will face no danger from Yemen, with the exception of Saudi enemy vessels,” al-Mashat said in a speech marking the 12th anniversary of the Houthis’ September 21 takeover of Sanaa.
Al-Mashat also rejected Saudi accusations that Houthi forces had targeted Mecca and said Yemen had no ambitions or hostility toward neighboring Arab and Muslim countries.
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