Yemen’s Houthis mourn slain Hezbollah chief, say resistance will not be broken

Protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, sit around a giant Hezbollah flag during a rally to show support to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, in Sanaa, Yemen on Friday. REUTERS

The Houthi movement in Yemen on Saturday mourned the death of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, its ally in an alliance opposing Israel, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.

“The resistance will not be broken, and the Jihadist spirit of the Mujahideen brothers in Lebanon and on all fronts of support will grow stronger and bigger,” the group said in a statement.

Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s killing after the Israeli military said it had eliminated him in an airstrike in Beirut on Friday.

Both Hezbollah and the Houthis are part of the Axis of Resistance, an alliance built up over years of Iranian support against Israel and US influence in the Middle East.

The Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships they say are affiliated to Israel, in the crucial shipping channels of the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November to show their support for Palestinians in the Gaza war.

The group, which controls northern Yemen, also fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly, some of which targeted central Israel for the first time.