Yemen has not officially declared war on Israel

By: Emmi Kivi
November 3 2023

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Source: Instagram

Context

Nearly one month into the Israel-Hamas war, the ongoing violence has also raised concerns over an escalation into a regional conflict involving other countries in the area.

Social media users are, for instance, disseminating false claims that Yemen has entered the war in support of Palestine. One social media post image reads, “Yemen has officially declared war on Israel.” Another post caption states, “With this declaration of war, Yemen has officially entered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, raising the stakes in an already volatile region and executed their duty by launching ballistic and cruise missiles at Israeli targets,” referring to the statement by Brigadier General Yahya Saree on October 31. 

However, Yemen’s internationally recognized government has not declared war on Israel.

In fact

The military spokesperson of the Houthi movement, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced on October 31 that the group had launched drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel. The Houthi movement does not represent the internationally recognized government of Yemen, and Saree’s televised statement stopped short of declaring war. 

“The Houthis are the de facto authority in Sanaa, the capital, but it is indeed inaccurate to say that ‘Yemen’ (or the Republic of Yemen) has declared war on Israel,” Professor Thomas Juneau at the University of Ottawa asserted to AP News. 

In the televised statement, Brigadier General Saree affirmed that “The armed forces continue to carry out our military operations, in solidarity with the oppression of the Palestinian people.” Saree blamed Israel for the instability in the Middle East. The Brigadier stated that the Houthis would carry on striking Israel “until the Israeli aggression against our brothers in steadfast Gaza stops,” as reported by The Middle East Monitor.

In response, the Israeli military stated it had deployed missile boats and reinforced its air defense in the Red Sea area. Israel also claimed that the Houthis were responsible for a drone attack on October 27 that caused explosions in two Egyptian towns near the Red Sea, aiming to target Israel.

The Houthi group, also referred to as Ansar Allah, is an armed militia operating in Yemen. In the 2014 coup, the group ousted Yemen’s transitional government, starting the ongoing civil war between the government and the Houthis. Currently, the Iran-supported Houthis control most of northern Yemen. Yemen’s internationally recognized government, the Presidential Leadership Council, is based in Aden, southern Yemen. 

Logically Facts continues to monitor and cover misleading and erroneous claims as they emerge.

The verdict

The Houthi movement does not represent the internationally recognized government of Yemen, the Presidential Leadership Council. On October 31, the spokesperson of the Houthi movement, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, declared that the group had launched missiles and drones at Israel in solidarity with Palestine, but stopped short of declaring war. Neither has Yemen’s internationally recognized government declared war on Israel. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.