The decision of all the fighting fronts including in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq is not to stop fighting until the aggression on the Gaza Strip stops, said senior member of Hamas’s armed wing, Qassam Brigades.
He was speaking to Al Jazeera, detailing the close relationship the group has with Yemen’s Houthis, who have been carrying out attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea in sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.
“The Houthis informed the Qassam Brigades that the recent escalation in the Red Sea is due to the Israeli occupation’s intentions to attack Rafah and the continuation of the starvation policy,” he said.
Qassam Brigades’ senior member confirmed that the Houthis sent the Qassam Brigades a letter to ask for its opinion about negotiations to release the crew of a ship they are holding. “The Houthis confirmed that any decision regarding the detained ship and its crew exclusively rests with the Qassam Brigades,” he said.
He went on to say: “The Houthis informed the Qassam Brigades that its strategic decision was to continue the battle of the Red Sea until the aggression stopped and the siege on the Gaza Strip was lifted.”
The Hamas leader also said that the communication and coordination between the Qassam Brigades and the fighting fronts in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq “has been continuing since the first hours of the start of the Al-Aqsa battle.”
He also claimed that the United States tried directly and through mediators to stop the fighting on each front separately, but its attempts were rejected.
At least three sailors have been killed in a Houthi missile attack on a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden.
This is the first fatality reported since the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group began attacks against ships over Israel’s war on Gaza.
A Liberian-owned ship with a Barbados flag named ‘True Confidence’ was set on fire following the Houthi missile attack on Wednesday, almost 50 nautical miles (93km) away from the port of Aden on the Yemeni coast.
