'Costliest battle in human history will erupt if US navy approaches Yemen': Sanaa

News Desk - The Cradle 

The comments by a senior official in the National Salvation Government coincide with the arrival of thousands of US sailors and marines to the Persian Gulf

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Yemen’s National Salvation Government (NSG), Hussein al-Ezzi, warned on 7 August that the approach of any US troops toward the country’s territorial waters would trigger a long-term war.

“In the interest of international peace and security and the preservation of the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, US forces must move away from our territorial waters,” Ezzi said.

حرصاً على السلم والأمن الدوليين والحفاظ على سلامة الملاحة في البحر الأحمر يتوجب على القوات الأمريكية أن تبتعد عن مياهنا الإقليمية لأن أي إقتراب ( فقط مجرد إقتراب) قد يعني بداية المعركة الأطول والأكثر كلفة في التاريخ البشري .

— حسين العزي (@hussinalezzi5) August 7, 2023

“Any approach (just a mere approach) may mean the beginning of the longest and costliest battle in human history,” the minister added. 

US forces are already illegally present in Yemen alongside British, French, Israeli, and Emirati troops.

Peace talks to resolve the eight-year war recently resumed between the Ansarallah resistance movement and Saudi Arabia. However, the kingdom is delaying the implementation of agreed-upon terms, namely the payment of government employee salaries. 

According to Yemeni officials, foreign forces – specifically UAE troops in Yemen’s ports, waterways, and oilfields – have stood in the way of peace. 

Ezzi’s comments coincide with the arrival of over 3,000 US troops to the Red Sea on Monday, as Washington is looking to beef up its presence across West Asia to counter Iran. 

Last week, US officials also offered to "deploy a security guard composed of Marines on board commercial tankers passing through and near the Strait of Hormuz, to form an additional layer of defense for these ships,” Fifth Fleet spokesman Tim Hawkins stated.

The arrival of the troops aboard three amphibious assault ships on Monday comes just weeks after the Pentagon deployed A-10 Thunderbolt II warplanes, multiple F-16 and F-35 fighter squadrons, the guided missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, and the nuclear-powered USS Florida submarine to Gulf waters.

In response to this escalation, Iran equipped the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) naval forces with drones and 1,000km range missiles. The Islamic Republic also conducted surprise drills in the Persian Gulf last week.

Ansarallah and the Yemeni armed forces have repeatedly warned the US against maintaining its presence in Yemen. 

In a video released on 22 March by Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman General Yahya Saree, he said: “It is up to the Americans to understand that the words of our leader Sayyed Abdel Malik al-Houthi are not empty words … When he warns the Americans and the British to leave our country … they must take these warnings seriously because these warnings will be followed up with actions.” 

خلال حضورنا يوم أمس مناورة "الصمود بوجه العدوان:
"أنتم أمام خيارين، إن أردتم السلام فنحن أهل السلام وإن أردتم الحرب فنحن جاهزون وحاضرون في الميدان وعليكم أن تفهموا أنهُ ما لم تحققوه في ثمان سنوات لن تستطيعوا تحقيقه بعد الأن" pic.twitter.com/lp6tMb9nLj

— العميد يحيى سريع (@army21ye) March 23, 2023