Palestinian resistance factions, including Hamas, have praised the drone operation conducted by Yemen’s armed forces in Tel Aviv in retaliation for the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
In a statement on Friday, Hamas said “We…highly appreciate and commend the qualitative military operation carried out by the Yemeni Armed Forces and the brothers of Ansarullah, targeting the heart of the city of "Tel Aviv," the center of the entity and the symbol of its pride.”
“We highly value the positions of Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi and the dear Yemeni people who support our Palestinian people with all available resources and capabilities.”
The movement also hailed anti-Israel operations conducted by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, stressing that they are “a legitimate right of our nation's resistance and its people, to confront the fascist Zionist expansion and its arrogance in the region.”
“We commend the positions of the brothers in Ansarullah in Yemen, Hezbollah and the Islamic Group in Lebanon, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, and we appreciate their sacrifices.”
New footage shows the moment a Yemeni attack drone hit a building in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/AZ0c3QIf7T
— Palestine Highlights (@PalHighlight) July 19, 2024
The Islamic Jihad also hailed the “heroic” Yemeni Armed Forces for conducting the “bold” operation against Tel Aviv.
The group noted that the operation was “a natural response” to the ongoing war crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza.
“Our brothers in Yemen, as well as our brothers on the support fronts in Lebanon and Iraq, have proven that the cause of Palestine and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is the central cause of the Arab and Islamic nations and that resistance is the only way to confront Zionist and Western arrogance against our nation.”
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also praised the Yemeni strike, describing it as “a qualitative shift in the responses of the support resistance fronts and demonstrates their ability” to target areas deep inside the occupied territories.
“The support fronts in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq have fulfilled their promises and expanded their responses to the escalating Zionist massacres in the Gaza Strip. They are ready to continue these unique operations if the aggression persists.”
The Popular Front also said the operations "sent clear messages to the cowardly leaders of the occupation that the entire Zionist entity is within the reach of resistance and support front strikes, and that there is no safe place for Zionists anywhere,” adding that it also proved the failure of the US and its allies to protect the occupying regime.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, announced that the country had launched an operation against Tel Aviv on Friday morning.
He also warned Israel against any further act of aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, saying the coastal city of Tel Aviv in the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories is no longer a safe place as it is within range of Yemeni weapons.
The remarks come as a drone hit an area near a US consular facility in Tel Aviv early on Friday, killing one person and injuring 10 others as the Israeli air defenses failed to intercept the drone.
Ever since the onset of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza early last October, the Yemeni forces have carried out scores of operations in support of the war-hit Gazans, striking targets throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in addition to targeting Israeli ships or vessels heading towards ports in the occupied territories.
The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed 38,848 Palestinians, mostly women and children, leaving 89,459 others injured.