UPDATE - Houthis call US ceasefire ‘victory for Yemen,’ vow retaliation against Israel

UPDATES WITH RESUMPTION OF OPERATIONS AT AL-HUDAYDAH PORT

By Mohammed Sameai and Mohammad Sio

SANAA, Yemen / ISTANBUL (AA) - Yemen's Houthi group on Thursday called its ceasefire agreement with the US “a victory for Yemen” and vowed a “devastating response” to recent Israeli attacks on the country.

A statement by the group’s Supreme Political Council said that Washington was forced to pull back after “suffering a significant military failure.”

While hailing the role played by Oman in mediating the ceasefire deal with the US, the Houthi council warned of a coming response to Israel’s recent airstrikes in Yemen, calling it “devastating” and imminent.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced the ceasefire on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump said the Houthi group will halt attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

The Houthis confirmed the ceasefire, but emphasized that the deal does not affect their confrontations with Israel in support of the Palestinian people.

On Tuesday night, Israeli warplanes launched a wave of airstrikes targeting Sanaa airport, power stations, and industrial facilities, killing at least seven people and injuring 94 others.

Responding to the US-Houthi agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would continue its operations in Yemen, “even without our American friends.”

Separately, the Houthi group announced the resumption of operations at Al-Hudaydah port in the country’s west, four days after the facility was struck by Israeli airstrikes.

Nasser Abdullah Al-Nassiri, deputy chairman of the Houthi-run Red Sea Ports Corporation, said that ship traffic at the port had resumed without delays.

The Houthis have targeted ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 52,800 people have been killed in a brutal Israeli assault for more than 19 months, most of them women and children.

The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, but resumed them after Israel's renewed airstrikes on Gaza in March.