Speech by Leader Al-Sayyid Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi on Latest Developments

I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the outcast.

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Praise is to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the Sovereign and the Manifest Truth, and that our master Muhammad is His servant, Messenger, and Last Prophet.

O Allah! Bestow Your salat and blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad as You bestowed Your salat and blessings upon Abraham and the Family of Abraham. You are Owner of Praise, Owner of Glory! And be pleased with Muhammad’s good companions and all Your righteous servants and mujahidin.

Brothers and sisters, peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

Allah (Glory be to Him) says in the Holy Quran, {‘[O unbelievers,] if you sought decisive judgement, now it has come to you. And if you desist, it is better for you. But if you return, We shall return. Your forces will not benefit you at all, even though they are many in number. Indeed, Allah is with the believers‘}[Al-Anfal 8:19]. This is the word of truth from Almighty Allah.

This blessed verse is mentioned in the context of the Quran’s account of the Great Battle of Badr. It was a battle that marked a major milestone in the struggle of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&F), together with the believers who accompanied him, against the unbelieving tyranny that sought to destroy Islam and Muslims. In that battle Allah (Glory be to Him) granted His Messenger (PBUH&F) and the Muslims a clear victory on the Day of Criterion. Thus, jihad in the path of Allah (Glory be to Him) became a means of attaining victory and honour and of breaking the power of tyrants, disbelievers, aggressors, wrongdoers, and criminals.

Through this, Allah (Glory be to Him) established a principle for His believing servants—an enduring pattern found throughout the divine revelations conveyed by Allah’s messengers and prophets and throughout the history of His servants across the ages. This is in accordance with the principle affirmed in the Holy Quran in the words of Allah, {‘And were it not for Allah repelling some people by means of others, the earth would indeed become corrupted‘}[Al-Baqarah 2:251]. Throughout history and since the beginning of human existence, the wicked, criminals, and tyrants have acted, driven by their evil, criminality, and injustice, to target the oppressed. Indeed, evil intensifies, tyranny grows, and tragedy deepens when the oppressed and those who uphold the truth fail to act despite the injustice they suffer, the rights they possess, and the just cause they uphold.

However, we must act in the right direction by proceeding from a sense of religious and faith-based responsibility, which teaches us always to adopt the rightful position, remain steadfast in it, and never depart from it. Also, we need to act in accordance with Allah’s teachings, which are intended for those who respond to Him and walk the path of truth, faith, and justice. Allah’s teachings are sublime, invaluable, and guiding. Their fruit is true freedom, which protects those who respond to Allah (Glory be to Him) from every form of servitude to anything other than Allah and enables them to fulfil their duties and their positive role in this life on the foundation of noble principles, lofty values, honourable morals, and the principles of justice, truth, and goodness. Such is the path that Allah has laid down for His servants through His messengers and prophets, including the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers, the Messenger of Allah Muhammad (PBUH&F). It is a path that remains for Muslims in every generation, in every age and every land, at all times, and in the face of every form of tyranny.

As Muslims in this age, we strive to carry forward the great, sacred, and blessed path of Islam, founded upon Allah’s revelation, His teachings, and the legacy of the messengers and prophets (PBUT). We walk this path on that foundation. Its fruit is that we remain truly free, so that no tyrants, wherever they may come from, can enslave us, humiliate us, subjugate us, dominate us, or control us through their evil, injustice, tyranny, and criminality.

In our own time, we face the most tyrannical of tyrants, the worst of evildoers, and the most criminal of oppressors and disbelievers throughout history: Zionism, as well as the Jewish movement, its affiliates, its followers, and its allies, marked in this age by criminality, tyranny, corruption, misguidance, and evil. They possess immense capabilities and a wide range of means through which they seek to target human societies—foremost among them our Islamic Ummah—by every possible means. This includes a corrupting and deceptive soft war through which they seek to strip people of their humanity, establish complete control over them, enslave them to other than Allah, crush nations, occupy their homelands, plunder their wealth and resources, and exploit them as a source of wealth—as part of the wealth they use to advance their satanic objectives, satisfy their immense ambitions, and feed their boundless greed. It also includes destructive and unjust hard warfare, in which they commit acts of genocide and treat human societies with utter brutality, criminality, tyranny, and complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.

America, Israel, their allies, those operating within their sphere of influence, and those who support them are the source of evil, crime, insecurity, and threats to stability, both globally and across our Arab region and the Islamic world. This has been evident: Throughout these decades, they have been the source of wars, crime, tyranny, strife, and one conspiracy after another. These conspiracies have never ceased targeting our Islamic Ummah, our Arab region, and global peace and stability. Behind all of this lie their evident ambitions, whims, and wrongful pursuit of enslaving and humiliating nations, occupying their homelands, exercising domination and control, stripping people of their freedom and dignity, and violating their sanctity. Indeed, this is clear.

From early childhood, we grew up in this prevailing atmosphere in our Arab region and the Islamic world. As soon as we reached an age of awareness and discernment, we grew up witnessing American and Israeli wars and the crimes and tyranny of America and Israel directed against the peoples of our Ummah, beginning with Palestine and extending beyond it. For that reason, America, Israel, the Zionist movement, and the Zionist project are the source of evil, crime, danger, and threats to security and stability, both regionally and globally. They are the reason behind the prevailing situation in our region, with all its tensions, wars, and unrest, including the internal strife within the peoples of our Ummah. They work to implement all of that, and they make no secret of it, sometimes presenting it under the banner of ‘Reshaping the Middle East’ and at other times speaking openly and explicitly about implementing the Zionist plan of establishing ‘Greater Israel’ and establishing control over this Ummah, its peoples, and this region.

Amid the backdrop of these developments, the enemies are carrying out—or working to carry out—their plans with ruthless force and arrogance, employing every form of conspiracy against these peoples and countries. They show no respect for agreements, understandings, commitments, international law, or resolutions issued in the name of the United Nations. Nor are they deterred by any such consideration or attach any value to any of them. They commit the most heinous crimes, including acts of genocide. They target women and children, boast of targeting cities and civilians, target the region’s civilisations, and threaten to annihilate entire peoples and destroy whole countries. Their disbelieving Trumpian mindset is plainly evident in all of this.

This, then, is a clear and undeniable reality: These peoples are being targeted, and the source of the danger and evil directed against them is unmistakable. The problem lies in the fact that there is a Zionist movement, operating through its principal instruments—America, Israel, and Britain—that targets us in this region as Arab Muslim peoples and as part of the wider Islamic world. It seeks to implement the Zionist project; strip us of our freedom and dignity; violate these peoples’ lives, honour, land, and property; and deprive them of their legitimate rights—rights that are recognised throughout the world.

As for those among our Ummah—its free people, its honourable people, and those who remain steadfast in Islam’s authentic principles and noble values, which are rooted in human nature—they act on the basis of upholding our freedom and human dignity and upholding our legitimate right as peoples to live in freedom, enjoy genuine independence, and have our lawful rights respected. This is the foundation upon which they act. Their actions rest on a sound and legitimate basis in every respect: in accordance with universally recognised principles, with human nature, with international conventions and norms, and with the authentic Islamic principles of this Ummah—which teach that the Ummah must never accept enslavement to its enemies in place of devotion to Allah (Glory be to Him).

Then there is another problem that further compounds the Ummah’s suffering: the destructive and deeply harmful role played by some Arab regimes and other regimes across the Islamic world. These regimes have aligned themselves with the enemies of this Ummah, cooperating with them in every possible way: politically, financially, through military and security cooperation directed against the peoples of this Ummah, and by mobilising all their media capabilities and resources as part of this effort.

Within our Arab and Islamic societies, the nature of Saudi Arabia’s role in this regard is well known. It has cooperated with America, Israel, and Britain in fomenting internal strife within the Islamic world and in undermining any collective stance taken by the Ummah in support of the Palestinian cause or in confronting the American and Israeli tyranny directed against the peoples of this Ummah. Foremost among those who have suffered from Saudi Arabia’s destructive, unjust, and aggressive role is our dear Muslim people of Yemen. Saudi Arabia showed no regard for the sanctity of neighbourly relations. Instead, it launched a brutal and unjust aggression against them under American supervision, with British partnership and Israeli support and encouragement from the outset. That aggression has continued for twelve years and persists to this day. This aggression has no justification whatsoever and rests on no valid basis of any kind. During this aggression, the Saudi enemy—under American supervision, in partnership with America and Britain, and with Israeli support—committed the most heinous crimes: It killed thousands of children and thousands of women, destroyed thousands of buildings and homes across the country, and devastated the country’s economic infrastructure.

It respected no sanctity whatsoever, showing no regard for the inviolability of people’s honour or lives. This was accompanied by a suffocating blockade that has persisted throughout these years, the deprivation of the country’s national wealth, and the occupation of large areas of the country.

Saudi Arabia’s destructive and aggressive role stems from its allegiance to America and Israel and from its efforts to serve Zionist projects and agendas by targeting the Ummah’s peoples, especially its free people. This aims at financing conspiracies designed to fragment them from within across different countries and plotting against other countries through every conceivable form of conspiracy. All have suffered from it, and all continue to complain about it.

This is well known throughout our Islamic Ummah, and the Palestinian people have been its foremost victims. During the Battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood, Saudi Arabia’s destructive and obstructive role became particularly evident. It sought to prevent any Arab or Islamic response commensurate with what was expected of this Ummah in the face of the genocide being committed by the Zionist enemy against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Indeed, the Saudi regime succeeded—in the political sphere, and in the political sphere alone—in preventing Muslim governments and regimes from adopting any unified position, including any collective political or economic boycott of the Israeli enemy. It positioned itself at the forefront of political action in the Islamic world, bringing together rulers and governments at conferences whose outcome was little more than carefully worded communiqués drafted in polite and respectful language, with an exceptionally limited scope. They never went beyond mild descriptions carefully phrased so as not to upset the Americans, nor did they lead to any concrete, practical action in support of the Palestinian people, who are being subjected to genocide in Gaza through the most horrific crimes and the most appalling forms of mass extermination. These atrocities are so shocking that they are a stain on the conscience of humanity and have provoked public outcry in many countries beyond the Islamic world.

The Saudi position thus succeeded in shackling the Ummah from within, leaving it unable to adopt any practical position—the emphasis being on ‘practical position’. Instead, the highest level of response was reduced to mild and carefully worded statements of condemnation that—as we have said—were deliberately framed so as not to provoke American displeasure.

Saudi Arabia’s destructive role continued—as we shall discuss—to take the form of practical measures and tangible support for the Israeli enemy, while seeking to court, appease, and serve the Americans. Indeed, the Americans are a direct partner in Israel’s crimes, in the Israeli aggression against Gaza, and more broadly in the attacks carried out across the region—against Lebanon, then Yemen, then the Islamic Republic of Iran, and elsewhere.

The suffering of the Palestinian people has continued to intensify since the beginning of Israel’s campaign to exterminate the Palestinian people in Gaza. Throughout this period, the Saudi media and its political stance consistently sought to vilify the Palestinian people and their mujahidin in Gaza, whom Saudi Arabia describes as terrorists. In fact, Saudi Arabia, together with other Arab regimes, designated the Palestinian mujahidin as terrorists, despite the fact that they had done nothing against Saudi Arabia, caused it no harm, and never targeted it in any way. Instead, it criminalised their resistance to Zionist crimes and their efforts to liberate Palestine, branding that resistance as terrorism and using it as the basis for placing them on terrorist lists.

Since the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, Saudi media and media outlets aligned with Saudi Arabia have consistently been hostile towards the Palestinian people and their mujahidin. They have incited against them, vilified them, mocked the sacrifices made by the Palestinian people, and continually justified the crimes committed by the Israeli enemy. They have also contributed in practical ways through various means—some of which will be referred to later—to supporting the Israeli enemy and encouraging it in what it does. The same has been true in their coverage of Lebanon, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and, even more so, of Yemen (the land of faith and wisdom) and its great, striving people.

When we look back at the course of events in the region, we all recognise the context in which they have unfolded. We all know that behind them lie American and Israeli tyranny, the oppression inflicted upon our Ummah by Zionist forces, and the suffering endured by our peoples. In the face of this, the responsibility is clear: religious, humanitarian, and moral responsibility. The rights of these peoples and the justice of their cause are equally clear. The responsibility of this Ummah as a whole, by virtue of its adherence to Islam, is also clear. As a nation that has been wronged, deliberately targeted, and confronted by a clear and declared enemy—an enemy that occupies its land, plunders its resources, targets its people, and deprives them of their freedom and dignity—its responsibility is to strive in the cause of Allah to confront that tyranny, that criminality, and that aggression, and to defend itself against the evil of the Zionist enemy. The Zionist enemy targets this Ummah, occupies its land, violates honour, kills people, and treats their lives as expendable. It does so together with its American partner and its Western supporters.

Therefore, the rightful position is clear and leaves no room for ambiguity. The just cause of the Palestinian people and of the peoples of this region is equally clear and beyond dispute. Likewise, as we have said, the responsibility is clear and unmistakable. The correct course of action, founded upon these evident and undeniable realities, is itself clear and free from any confusion. Accordingly, blame, criticism, the attribution of responsibility, abuse, accusations, or any hostile or adversarial stance should not be directed against those who follow this right course—a course grounded in a sense of responsibility rooted in faith, humanitarian values, moral and ethical principles, national duty. Indeed, it is the right course by every standard.

However, the divergent currents within this Ummah are plain to see. There is one current that directly serves the interests of America and Israel. It does not represent this Ummah, its identity, its Islam, or its principles. Nor does it uphold its legitimate rights or its just causes. Rather, it is a current that opposes the free and honourable people of this Ummah because they stand in the face of the Americans and Israelis who seek to target this Ummah, subjugate it, dominate it, and carry out the destructive Zionist project against it. The reality, therefore, is clear and unmistakable.

In its aggression against Gaza, the Israeli enemy committed the most appalling and atrocious crimes imaginable. It is a source of shame and disgrace for this Ummah, and that disgrace will remain with all those who have failed in their duty, neglected their responsibility, stood by as mere spectators, or conspired with the aggressor until the Day of Judgement. On that Day, when they stand before Allah (Glory be to Him), they will be held accountable, and Allah (Glory be to Him) will recompense them for their conduct, because it amounts to assisting the enemy in its horrific crimes of genocide against the Palestinian people. Despite all this, the Palestinian people—both in Gaza itself and throughout Palestine as a whole—continue to suffer. The suffering in the Gaza Strip is especially severe because the Israeli enemy does not honour any agreement. It repudiates every treaty, every commitment, and every accord. It breaks its pledges, acts treacherously, and fulfils none of its obligations, for it is a treacherous, oppressive, and criminal enemy that adheres to no moral principles whatsoever. Accordingly, since the time of the agreement in the Gaza Strip—an agreement guaranteed by parties overseeing both sides—the Israeli enemy has killed more than one thousand Palestinian martyrs, including children, women, the elderly, the young, as well as mujahidin, both leaders and ordinary members. It continues to commit killings in Gaza every day. This is by no means a small number: More than one thousand martyrs have been killed after the agreement, during its implementation, and while the truce established by that agreement remains in force. The foremost provision of that agreement was a ceasefire, yet the Israeli enemy continues to kill and target the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip through every means of attack: air strikes, artillery shelling, targeted attacks of every kind, and daily acts of killing. Indeed, this is a substantial number. More than one thousand people have been martyred, and more than three thousand wounded despite a ceasefire agreement backed by guarantors. At the same time, if a single Israeli soldier were to be killed, there would be an enormous international outcry, and some Arab regimes would even direct their blame at the Palestinian people and their mujahidin.

As we always say, the Israeli enemy continually seeks to entrench the notion that this Ummah can be violated with impunity. The Israeli enemy seeks to make this acceptable within the Ummah itself: that Palestinians may be killed every day—in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine, including at times in the West Bank—that people may be killed in Lebanon and throughout the region, and that all of this should come to be regarded as normal. It seeks to ensure that these crimes provoke no serious response from the governments and regimes of this Ummah to bring an end to this ongoing assault on the lives of our Muslim society and our Arab and Islamic peoples.

They seek to make it an accepted reality throughout all segments of the Ummah that the Zionist Jews, the Americans, and the Israelis should be free to kill every day, and to kill whomever they wish from among the members of this Ummah—adults and children, men and women, leaders, soldiers, civilians, and people from all walks of life. They seek to make this become an accepted reality within the Ummah, met with no reaction or any serious effort to prevent it. They also seek to render agreements devoid of any value or significance except insofar as they are used to shackle the members of this Ummah and restrain them from defending themselves or resisting aggression carried out by the Israeli and American enemy.

Meanwhile, the Israeli enemy continues to occupy vast areas of the Gaza Strip, despite the agreement stipulating its complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Instead, it continues to expand its occupation of the Strip and publicly declares that it seeks to complete the occupation of seventy per cent of the Gaza Strip. In Gaza and Lebanon, it establishes lines that it sometimes calls ‘yellow lines’ and at other times ‘red lines’—colour-coded lines that change at each stage. It draws a line and then declares it to be the ‘yellow line’, the ‘blue line’, or another designation according to the colours it chooses to assign. In this way, it gives itself the right to occupy those areas, calling them ‘security belts’, ‘safe zones’, or by any other names. Yet they are nothing more than occupation, injustice, and the confiscation of lands and territorial rights belonging to this Ummah and its peoples.

It boasts of demolishing entire cities, villages, towns, and residential neighbourhoods in Gaza and Lebanon, taking pride in doing so. It continues to perpetrate the crime of the comprehensive destruction of civilians’ homes and residential dwellings—one of the well-known crimes witnessed throughout the world. It boasts of demolishing them, destroying them, and obliterating every feature of life: the destruction of water wells, the levelling of agricultural lands, and much else besides. It targets every feature of life, as well as all civilian and public service facilities, while continuing to kill and carry out attacks without interruption.

It continues to intensify the blockade imposed on the Palestinian people, subjecting them to the harshest restrictions. The majority of the people of Gaza continue to live in worn-out tents, where they suffer from extreme heat during the summer, along with the other hardships, harms, and forms of suffering that accompany it. During periods of cold weather and winter, they endure severe cold as well. Thus, they continue to face extremely severe suffering. They also suffer from the restrictions imposed on the amount of humanitarian aid, food supplies, and essential necessities allowed to enter. Moreover, it has failed to fulfil what was stipulated in the agreement regarding the specified number of trucks that are required to enter Gaza each day. Although this is a humanitarian right that does not require reliance on the agreement as a basis, there is an agreement that explicitly stipulates, within the agreement itself—the general agreement—the specific number of trucks that should enter the Gaza Strip daily. However, it has failed to comply with this, imposed restrictions, and reduced the number of trucks entering. It has even controlled the type of food supplies allowed to enter, thereby creating an extremely grave and ongoing tragedy and suffering within the Gaza Strip at every level: in terms of food, medicine, and all humanitarian necessities. It has also prevented reconstruction and continues to control and prevent the departure of travellers who need to leave for medical treatment. Furthermore, it disregards what was stipulated in the agreement and also disregards the humanitarian right of the Palestinian people in this regard.

Thus, it continues to create immense and ongoing suffering for the Palestinian people in Gaza. Its objective is to exert continuous pressure to displace the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and to displace the Palestinian people from their homeland and their land by creating this catastrophe, this extremely severe suffering, and this harsh torment inflicted upon the Palestinian people.

With the developments unfolding in the region, many overlook the reality of what is taking place daily in the Gaza Strip and the horrific level of suffering endured by the Palestinian people. Nevertheless, what the Israeli Zionist enemy is doing in the West Bank includes the massive expansion of settlement outposts, the continuous confiscation of the properties of the Palestinian people, the daily demolition of houses and homes, and the ongoing levelling of agricultural areas, farms, and facilities. It also includes daily attacks against members of the Palestinian people by criminal Zionist usurping herds, as well as by what is referred to as the Israeli army, which consists of Israeli criminal gangs. This is accompanied by the continued forced displacement, comprehensive destruction, and killing, along with the ongoing torture of captives in Israeli prisons through the most horrific forms of torture and continuous persecution. In addition, the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is violated daily. Also, the Israeli enemy pursues further steps aimed at establishing the issue of temporal division as an ongoing reality, followed by spatial division and subsequent steps towards comprehensive destruction. These are all aggressive, unjust, and criminal courses of action. There are even restrictions imposed on the call to prayer, including preventing the call to prayer from being broadcast through loudspeakers at the Ibrahimi Mosque. Such restrictions on the call to prayer are among the measures imposed by the Israeli enemy in Palestine.

There is continuous pressure and restriction imposed on the Palestinian people everywhere. As for Al-Quds, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, the daily incidents, crimes, and attacks committed by the Israeli enemy against the Palestinian people are extremely numerous. Meanwhile, there is no prospect at the general level or at the international level for what was previously referred to as ‘peace negotiations’; there is no prospect for that whatsoever.

The Israeli enemy repudiates all its commitments and confiscates all legitimate rights. Its course is an aggressive and criminal one, through which it seeks to entrench the occupation, establish complete control, and significantly expand settlement outposts. It even threatens to extend them into the Gaza Strip. Moreover, it continuously seeks to make the issue of Palestine, the Palestinian right, and the liberation of Palestine fade away, and to steer developments in the region towards other paths aimed at implementing the Zionist project, part of which is pursued under the title of normalisation. It constantly strives to obscure the issue of Palestine, Palestinian rights, and the liberation of Palestine, and to redirect the region onto alternative political trajectories that advance the Zionist project, one aspect of which is pursued under the banner of normalisation.

This is the reality confronting the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause: an ongoing Israeli campaign marked by all forms of criminality, tyranny, aggression, the confiscation of rights, the seizure of land, the killing of Palestinians, and numerous other violations and abuses. The Israeli enemy is, indeed, an open and unmistakable adversary that continues to pursue its criminality, occupation, injustice, and all kinds of crimes including crimes of rape and violation of honour. Recent international reports, including those issued by the United Nations, document a significant increase in sexual violence against Palestinian women and men alike, carried out with shocking brazenness and extreme brutality.

In the light of all these realities, neither the Muslim Ummah as a whole nor the Arab peoples can be absolved of their religious, humanitarian, and moral responsibility towards the Palestinian cause. It is a fundamental and central cause for the Ummah. It is a cause for which the Ummah bears responsibility before Allah (Glory be to Him), and neglecting this responsibility carries grave consequences in both this world and the Hereafter.

Indeed, in Gaza, the Israeli enemy continues to prevent reconstruction, and as reconstruction remains blocked, the Palestinian people continue to endure immense suffering, with many still living in dilapidated tents, while facing restrictions on access to food, medicine, and other essential necessities. Where, then, are the guarantors of the agreement in fulfilling their responsibilities? Instead of giving priority to humanitarian concerns—which, in accordance with the principles of humanity, truth, and justice, should take precedence over all else—they have aligned themselves with the Zionist Israeli-American agenda; their overriding concern has been to strip the Palestinian people even of their most basic personal weapons—those with which they can defend themselves, to the limited extent their capabilities allow. Rather than ensuring compliance with the agreement’s clearly defined obligations, stages, priorities, and commitments, the guarantors have played an extremely weak role, which has, in practice, served the interests of the Israeli enemy. As for the so-called ‘Peace Council’, it is Trump’s council, established to advance and serve the Zionist agenda.

With regard to Lebanon, the situation is no different: The Israeli enemy continues its unjust, criminal, and brutal aggression, killing, destroying, and occupying land. In contrast, the central and vital role is played by Hezbollah in resisting Israeli military operations. Its effective resistance is an honourable and courageous stand that brings honour to this Ummah and represents a source of pride for Islam and all Muslims. However, this great and heroic stand by Hezbollah has been met with a stab in the back from the Lebanese authorities and by certain Arab regimes—particularly the Saudi regime—by attempting to exert internal political pressure and adopt American and Israeli dictates in ways that ultimately serve the Israeli enemy’s interests.

Iran’s important and honourable support for the Lebanese front, particularly its role in securing the inclusion of a cessation of the aggression against Lebanon in the Memorandum of Understanding, deserves the highest recognition. Yet the Lebanese authorities have sought to reject and oppose it. Instead of embracing it and recognising its immense value in serving Lebanon’s genuine national interests and those of the Lebanese people, they have chosen to disavow it and pursue a course of submission to the Israeli enemy in response to American and Israeli dictates—a course that serves no genuine interest of the Lebanese people but instead serves to consolidate Israeli control over the situation in Lebanon as a whole.

For this reason, Hezbollah’s vital position, together with Iran’s significant support—which secured the inclusion of a cessation of military action against Lebanon as one of the principal provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding, forming part of the broader agreement between the United States and Israel on one side and the Islamic Republic of Iran and the axis on the other—deserves widespread appreciation and deep respect. The Lebanese authorities should build upon this position, which should command the respect of Arab regimes and the wider Muslim world because it represents the soundest course of action and offers the greatest prospect of achieving a positive outcome. By contrast, pursuing an illusory course—one in which the Lebanese authorities assume a role similar to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, doing nothing for their people and providing them no meaningful protection, while engaging in security, military, and political coordination to satisfy American and Israeli dictates—is a misguided course of action. It amounts to a betrayal of the Lebanese people and harms their interests.

What is particularly disturbing is the nature of Saudi Arabia’s role in Lebanon—a disgraceful role that serves the Israeli enemy. The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon has played a highly active role, engaging with both government officials and certain political forces, groups, and public figures to encourage the adoption of the Lebanese authorities’ misguided course. This course is directed towards complying with American and Israeli dictates, despite serving no interest of Lebanon whatsoever. It offers the Lebanese people neither future security nor lasting stability, nor does it protect them from the Israeli threat, Israeli oppression, or Israeli expansionist ambitions. The situation has reached a point where the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon is handing out suitcases stuffed with cash to certain officials and prominent figures just to buy their political stances, bribing them to commit treason against their own people and their own country and to adopt a hostile and destructive stance against Hezbollah—an act that undermines Lebanon’s freedom, independence, and national interests. This role is therefore deeply regrettable, hostile, and harmful; it ultimately serves Zionist interests and has no legitimate justifications.

When Saudi Arabia adopts such a position at a time when the danger extends to the entire Ummah—even to the Arabian Peninsula itself, which the Zionist project does not exclude but rather considers one of its foremost targets—in order to settle scores driven by hatred and devoid of any justification, it is pursuing a misguided and condemnable course of action. This course brings problems upon the Saudi regime itself, as it creates unnecessary problems with every party, constantly stirring up new disputes and provoking conflicts on multiple fronts. The Saudi regime was the one that launched its aggression against the Yemeni people and has likewise turned against forces across the Ummah, conspiring against them, stabbing them in the back, and targeting them, even though none of them had initiated any conflict against it or adopted hostile intentions towards it. There is therefore no justification for such conduct; rather, it stems from the blindness and misguidance that have long driven its policies, activities, and orientations in the service of Zionism.

Thus, what is happening in Lebanon is clear: The source of the problem is the Israeli enemy, together with its American partner, acting in pursuit of the Zionist project through Israeli oppression and aggression against the peoples of the region. By contrast, the resistance plays a legitimate and fundamental role, and its right to confront the Israeli enemy is a legitimate right, and firmly established by all recognised standards. Its role is both honourable and a source of pride, and it merits the appreciation, support, and backing of the entire Ummah. The Axis of Jihad and Resistance stands alongside it and will never abandon it. Indeed, the entire axis, led by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will continue to support the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and provide whatever assistance is required, commensurate with developments during the current stage and beyond.

Regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United States continues its blatant violations of the Memorandum of Understanding. Like Israel, it has shown complete disregard for agreements, reneged on its pledges, and repudiated its clear, specific, publicly declared, and explicit commitments, while then placing responsibility on the other side despite having fulfilled none of its own obligations.

It is evident that the United States and the Israeli enemy initiated the aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran in an attempt to overthrow the government and fragment the country. Their campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran forms part of a broader campaign against the whole region, undertaken in pursuit of the Zionist project. Therefore, Iran’s steadfastness, its victory, its distinguished position, and its highly effective response to American-Israeli aggression represented a victory for the entire Ummah and for the peoples of this region.

It is certain and entirely clear that, if the American enemy, the Israeli enemy, and the Zionist movement had succeeded in achieving their objectives against the Islamic Republic of Iran, they would immediately have moved to target the peoples of this region, foremost among them the countries neighbouring Palestine. They would not have excluded Syria under any circumstances, regardless of its political situation. Such considerations are of no significance to the Israeli enemy, for its ambitions concern these countries, this region, and this entire geography. Accordingly, regardless of whether a particular country aligns itself politically with America, adopts a hostile stance towards the axis and the people of this Ummah, or becomes embroiled in sectarian divisions, the United States and Israel will never abandon or alter their Zionist project. They set out to occupy Palestine from the outset, despite the fact that there was no movement at the time opposing America or Israel. Even before the establishment of an entity known as the Israeli entity, there was no movement based on hostility towards Jews, the Zionist movement, the West, America, or Britain. Yet Britain directly occupied Palestine with the aim of advancing the Zionist project and laying the foundation for its broader expansion—an expansion that they themselves openly proclaim and which is now explicitly articulated even by the American ambassador in Palestine, as he consistently reflects the official position of the United States.

Therefore, Iran’s stance is of immense importance. It represents a formidable bulwark for the peoples of this region, foremost among them the Arab peoples, including the Gulf states themselves. Had Israel and its American partner succeeded in achieving their declared primary objectives through their aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran—driven by their unparalleled greed and ambition—they would have sought to subject the Gulf states to the harshest forms of coercion so that they could plunder their resources on an even greater scale than they already do today. They already extract trillions from Gulf wealth and Gulf oil, yet their greed knows no bounds. Their avarice is immense and unmatched, and they are restrained by no considerations and respect nothing, regardless of what is done for them. They are the ones of whom Allah said, {‘Never will the Jews or Christians be pleased with you until you follow their faith‘}[Al-Baqarah 2:120] and {‘Here you are! You love them but they do not love you‘}[Ali ‘Imran 3:119]. Indeed, they show no appreciation for anyone or anything; their ambitions, interests, and desires stand above everything else and above all considerations.

Therefore, the Islamic Republic has demonstrated remarkable steadfastness and exceptional effectiveness in dealing crushing blows to the American enemy. In response to every American attack or joint American-Israeli attack, it retaliates forcefully and effectively with missiles and drones, targeting and destroying American bases with remarkable courage and unwavering resolve. Over five months of this major confrontation in our region, Iran’s stance and steadfastness have been marked by the highest levels of resilience, resolve, strength, effectiveness, courage, boldness, and cohesion. For the first time in our region, and in a conflict of this kind, we have witnessed a level of resilience, steadfastness, effectiveness, impact, and strength unmatched anywhere in our Arab and Islamic world. This is a great honour for our Islamic Ummah, and it carries enormous significance because it has established new strategic equations.

America had grown accustomed to toppling major Arab regimes in campaigns lasting only weeks, or even mere days. Israel, likewise, had grown accustomed to defeating Arab armies within hours or days. Therefore, for an Islamic country, governed by an Islamic system, to stand with such courage, strength, and resilience in the face of American and Israeli tyranny—to confront the enemy with determination, ferocity, and effectiveness; inflict heavy losses upon it; and remain steadfast, victorious, and unwavering despite the sacrifices it had offered—is of profound significance. These sacrifices, made while maintaining a steadfast, united, and victorious position that has never wavered politically, militarily, or strategically, are noble, honourable, and fruitful sacrifices.

When the American and the Israeli enemies commit crimes—killings, assassinations, the targeting of children in schools, attacks on civilians, and strikes against civilian facilities—such acts do not constitute victory, nor can they be regarded as a genuine strategic achievement. They are simply acts of criminality, aggression, and injustice. Even the insults and threats issued by the infidel Trump, together with his attempts at psychological warfare and propaganda, and his repeatedly contradictory statements—contradicting himself several times over the course of a single day—all testify to the extent of America’s failure. Indeed, there is broad international consensus that America and its Israeli partner failed in their aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Thus, this remarkable steadfastness and exceptional effectiveness ought to have been sufficient to prompt some of the regimes in the region to reassess their calculations and review their policies that are entirely beholden to American and Israeli dictates—policies that harm not only their own interests and peoples but also the peoples of the region as a whole. At the very least, they should adopt a genuine policy of neutrality: They should neither side with America and Israel nor allow their countries to host American and Israeli military bases or permit their airspace to be used for launching attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any other country in the region.

Unfortunately, however, some regimes continue to pursue a deeply misguided course, persisting in a destructive role that increasingly serves the interests of America and Israel by providing financial support and allowing their territories to be used as launching grounds for aggression. In doing so, they incur legal responsibility, even under international law. When a state allows its territory to be used by another party to launch attacks against a third country, it becomes complicit in that aggression and bears legal, moral, and humanitarian responsibility. Yet these regimes express outrage when the Islamic Republic retaliates by targeting the American military bases located within their own countries—the very bases from which attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran were launched. Yet their blindness prevents them from showing even the slightest sense of fairness. They expect the Islamic Republic of Iran to remain shackled and refrain from responding, even as attacks are launched against it from American bases operating on their own territory. Nevertheless, Iran’s stance represents a source of hope for the entire Muslim Ummah—for its oppressed and downtrodden peoples, and for its free sons who stand against the Zionist project and American-Israeli domination of this region. In this same context, following the failure of the American campaign of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia has played a highly destructive role, as seen in its stance towards Yemen.

Yemen has distinguished itself through the positive role it has played, acting to the fullest extent of its capabilities and at the highest level possible in support of the Palestinian people during the operation of Al-Aqsa Flood and in opposition to the brutal and criminal Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip throughout the entire period of escalation, from its outset until the ceasefire agreement was reached. That position remains firm, consistent, and unwavering in the face of any renewed escalation against the Palestinian people in Gaza, because the position of our people is one founded upon principle, faith, humanity, morality, and values. It is not a political tactic or a posture adopted for political point-scoring. Rather, it reflects a sincere and determined commitment. Our people demonstrated this commitment through the largest popular mobilisation witnessed anywhere in the world, with million-strong demonstrations continuing until the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip came into effect. This public mobilisation was accompanied by military operations and significant sacrifices, including members of the government and the Ministry of Defence who were martyred, among them leaders and mujahidin serving at every level, both in positions of responsibility and on the battlefield. It was a sincere and determined effort in which our people made sacrifices and offered martyrs in the cause of Allah while remaining steadfast despite enduring considerable hardship.

Moreover, alongside this remarkable role, our dear people also entered into direct confrontation with the American enemy in two successive rounds: one during the Biden administration and another during the presidency of the infidel Trump. These were fierce rounds of direct confrontation with the American enemy, which launched aggression against our country in support of the Israeli enemy.

Our dear people remained steadfast and resolute. The blockade imposed on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea, through the Bab Al-Mandab strait, and in the Gulf of Aden remained firmly in place without interruption. By Allah’s grace, this represented a genuine victory for our people in upholding their just position, pursuing their sincere course of action, striving in the cause of Allah, and fulfilling their religious, humanitarian, and moral duty in support of the oppressed Palestinian people. Military operations targeting the Israeli enemy with missiles also continued until the ceasefire, alongside direct rounds of confrontation with the American and Israeli enemies. Throughout it all, our people remained unwavering and never retreated from their position. On the contrary, they grew ever more engaged, determined, and steadfast in the face of every challenge.

The Americans failed in two successive rounds of confrontation, both of which ended in defeat and disgrace. Their aircraft carriers were forced to withdraw from the Red Sea after sustaining significant damage, and many remain under repair to this day. Indeed, even after returning to service, they require further maintenance following only limited operations. Four aircraft carriers fled the theatre of confrontation as a result of the continuing rounds of fighting and the sustained strikes throughout the entire period of the conflict.

The failure of America, Israel, and Britain in their direct confrontation against our dear people has served as a lesson to the Americans and to the spiteful Israelis. Nevertheless, there remains the possibility of further direct confrontations at any time; their failure does not mean that everything has come to an end. The Americans, together with the British and the Israelis, have tasted the bitterness of failure in direct confrontation.

At the present stage, it has become increasingly clear to us that America, Britain, and Israel are all pushing Saudi Arabia into becoming embroiled once again in direct confrontation and escalating towards a full-scale aggression against our country.

During the previous stage, which was characterised by de-escalation, Saudi Arabia was expected to honour its commitment to reduce tensions. At the same time, progress should have been made on the humanitarian file, which represents a legitimate entitlement of our dear people, as they continue to suffer under a comprehensive war—economic, military, political, and in every other form. This was a comprehensive campaign of aggression carried out by Saudi Arabia under American supervision, with British partnership and Israeli involvement and encouragement. Accordingly, the de-escalation phase should have brought about a clear breakthrough in the humanitarian situation, as this was one of its fundamental objectives. The same applied to the ports, the airports, and the nation’s oil and gas resources, which belong to the Yemeni people. The Saudi enemy has no claim whatsoever to these resources—not even the smallest share—and therefore has no right to control them or deprive our people of them. Yet the Saudi side has continued to evade its obligations throughout these years: four years of manoeuvring during the de-escalation period, and twelve years of denying this people access to their sovereign wealth and subjecting them to severe hardship through a suffocating blockade. Alongside the Americans, the British, and the Israelis, it has played a role in tightening that blockade against our people.

What particularly drew our attention was that, at the height of the confrontation during the operation of Al-Aqsa Flood—at the peak of the naval campaign, the wider military confrontation with the Israeli enemy, and the direct confrontation with America and Britain—the Saudi side introduced additional measures to tighten the blockade. It has imposed, in cooperation with Britain, further restrictions on commercial imports arriving by sea and has significantly tightened the procedures applied to them, resulting in ships and cargo being held in Djibouti for unusually prolonged inspections. In some cases, goods have remained there for two months, while others have been delayed for as long as four months under the pretext of inspection. Meanwhile, traders have been forced to pay enormous demurrage charges on the vessels carrying these goods. As a result, by the time the shipments reach the Port of Al-Hudaydah, their costs have increased dramatically. By the time the goods reach the markets, their prices have sometimes risen to as much as 400 per cent of their original value. Consequently, these goods reach our people—already suffering under blockade, poverty, hardship, and deprivation of their national wealth—at what are perhaps among the highest prices anywhere in the world. Gaza may be the only exception. All of this continues despite the near-total absence of purchasing power among the population.

The restrictions imposed on the flow of goods to the Port of Al-Hudaydah are intended to achieve precisely this objective: to ensure that the Yemeni people can obtain their basic necessities only at exorbitant and unaffordable prices. This has come at a time when they are already enduring the severest hardship in the aftermath of war, widespread destruction, the targeting of their facilities and economic infrastructure, the ongoing deprivation of their oil, gas, and other sovereign resources, and the near-total absence of purchasing power. As a result, they continue to suffer immensely. The objective is to inflict suffering upon the Yemeni people, just as the Israeli enemy is inflicting suffering upon the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The Saudi regime has deprived our Yemeni people of essential services. Healthcare services, in particular, have been severely affected by its aggression against our country, which has destroyed hospitals, clinics, and primary healthcare centres, inflicted immense damage on the economy, and deprived the nation of its sovereign resources. As a result, healthcare services have been severely damaged. Moreover, there are enormous difficulties in delivering many medicines, especially those that must be transported under certain conditions and may be damaged if shipped by land or sea rather than by air—and in many cases those options are not even feasible. Take, for example, the medicines used in the treatment of cancer and certain other serious illnesses, which require particular handling and storage conditions to prevent deterioration during long overland journeys. Nevertheless, severe restrictions have been imposed on airports, flights have been suspended, and travel is strictly banned. This has led to the deaths of thousands of patients who were unable to leave the country for treatment because the required medical services were unavailable domestically due to the aggression, the blockade, and the severe hardships resulting from all forms of targeting.

The Saudis want this situation to continue: maintaining a suffocating siege and denying us our own oil wealth. They also refuse to honour the obligations required under the de-escalation phase, even though these are, above all, basic humanitarian obligations. These are inalienable rights of our dear people by every standard: They are fundamental rights recognised by human conscience, global norms, international charters, and international law. No one has the right to deny or take them away from the Yemeni people—not the Saudis, nor their mercenaries, military officers, or anyone fighting on their behalf, regardless of the name or label under which they operate. To illustrate, even if the House of Representatives in Sana’a—which, under the law and according to accepted constitutional and international norms, is the body empowered to enact legislation—were to convene and decide to deprive the Yemeni people of food, medicine, their oil wealth, or the right to travel, those rights would still remain absolute and inviolable.

In other words, no one in this world—whether Yemeni, Saudi, American, Israeli, or anyone else, regardless of their position or authority—and no body, whether the United Nations, the Security Council, or any other institution, has the right to deprive the Yemeni people of their rights to their oil wealth, to travel abroad for medical treatment, or to travel for commercial and other purposes that are recognised as legitimate throughout the world. No one has the authority to strip the Yemeni people of these rights; they are inalienable rights.

Thus, when the Saudis describe the departure of Yemeni patients for treatment abroad as a dangerous and unacceptable act, this is nothing short of sheer tyranny, arrogance, aggression, and criminality. They seek to control every aspect of our people’s affairs, including determining who may leave the country for medical treatment and who may not, banning flights, preventing people from travelling abroad, and imposing other restrictions on the movement of our beloved people in pursuit of healthcare, trade, or other legitimate purposes.

Depriving our people of all these rights is pure injustice, tyranny, and criminality. No one anywhere in the world has the authority to deny these rights to our dear people. Whoever seeks to do so is an aggressor, a criminal, an oppressor, a tyrant, and one who acts with arrogance, deliberately targeting this nation with profound injustice. Therefore, such conduct can never be accepted.

At this stage, following the failure of the Americans, the Israelis, and the British in the direct confrontation, the Saudis are being pushed once again into tightening the siege on our people, denying them their rights, keeping the ports and airports closed, and imposing the harshest restrictions on goods entering the country. These goods come from Gulf countries, from China, and from various Western and Asian countries, yet they impose the strictest restrictions on them. Furthermore, they classify many civilian goods as prohibited items for our people, inflicting further suffering on this nation.

They are also depriving our people of the wealth generated by their own oil resources—around 90 million barrels annually—denying them the financial revenues that could have been used to support healthcare, education, and the payment of salaries. This wealth belongs to this people. It is their rightful resource, yet they are being subjected to suffering and are left to starve. Cities are becoming crowded with beggars driven by extreme hunger. The misery has spread to the point that some families have resorted to eating leaves from trees, while others cannot afford even three or two meals a day. Some families have only one meal within a 24-hour period. Despite all of this, the suffering continues to worsen. Meanwhile, the Saudi enemy remains comfortable with all of this—indeed, it is pursuing this very course: to torment and oppress this people. It wants to push our people into collapse and surrender, so that it can subjugate them, take direct control over them, and then bring them under the control of the Americans, Israelis, and British. This is because the Saudis have no independent agenda of their own; they have no project of their own. The Saudi project is nothing but an American-British-Israeli Zionist project. Serving the Americans, Israelis, and British is all that they have. They have no project that serves this Ummah or advances the interests of its peoples.

Throughout all past phases, including direct confrontations with the Israeli enemy, the Saudi regime has collaborated with the Israelis against our people and our country in numerous ways. The Saudi authorities have handed over intelligence gathered by their spy cells to the Israelis and Americans to provide precise coordinates for airstrikes. This includes the heinous US strike targeting the African migrant shelter in Sa’adah, which remains one of the most barbaric atrocities committed. A Saudi-run cell gathers information and coordinates, passing them to the Saudi regime, which in turn feeds them to the Americans, the Israelis, and the British. In fact, joint operations cells exist, working directly between the Saudis and the British, the Saudis and the Americans, and likely the Israelis as well.

Furthermore, the Saudi regime has opened its airfields to Israeli spy drones—specifically those lacking the range to fly directly from Palestine to Yemen. These drones used Saudi bases as launchpads to conduct espionage and reconnaissance over our territory. This is a profound betrayal of neighbourly ties, an act of unprovoked aggression, and a direct service to the Israeli enemy.

Regarding the naval blockade against the Israeli enemy, the Saudis were receiving goods at their own ports and subsequently transporting them overland to the Israeli enemy to ease the impact of the Yemeni naval blockade. To this day, this cooperation between the Saudi regime and the Israelis continues unabated, while their collaboration with the Americans and British is already plain for all to see.

They have consistently sought to tighten the chokehold on our people, exploiting their immense suffering to stoke internal strife, buy off loyalties, recruit hostile proxies, and enlist more fighters to their side. Their goal is to keep our beloved people in a state of economic desperation, so that the only way to earn a living is through treason: No treason, no money! This is the paradigm the Saudi regime is pushing on the Yemeni people. Even the mercenaries who fight for them do so on this basis—selling out their homeland, their honour, and their people in exchange for cash. This is happening despite the fact that our country possesses ample wealth and resources to guarantee everyone a decent, prosperous life of pride and dignity. However, our people continue to suffer due to deprivation, aggression, suffocation, restrictions, the blockade, unjust measures, and the outright occupation of vast territories within our homeland.

Therefore, to those who turn to treason for financial gain, we say: Your homeland has the wealth to ensure you live with honour and dignity. You do not need to be slaves to the slave of America and Israel—to a regime that bows down and enslaves itself to them.

The Saudi regime should have learnt its lesson from eight years of escalation. They exhausted every effort to seize control of our country, launching over 250,000 airstrikes and securing the largest arms deals in history, buying bombs which they then dropped—under American supervision and with American assistance—on our homes, residential areas, schools, roads, markets, and mosques. And yet they failed. They fought by land, air, and sea at the absolute peak of their military campaign, and still they failed. They ought to have learnt from this. Do they truly believe they can succeed by escalating against our country once more? They are bound to fail. They simply do not understand the nature of our people, who act out of deep-rooted, unwavering faith. These are the people of whom the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&F) said, ‘The belief is that of the Yemenites, and sagacity is that of the Yemenites.‘ Faith is the ultimate foundation of steadfastness, and our greatest connection to Allah to secure victory and support: {‘And to Allah belongs [all] honour, and to His Messenger, and to the believers‘}, {‘For it is Our duty to grant victory to the believers‘}[Ar-Rum 30:47].

Recently, the Islamic Republic of Iran—to whom we are deeply grateful—made efforts to help our dear people break the siege, particularly the unjust air blockade imposed on our airports. The Saudi regime responded with arrogance and tyranny. It regards the departure of the sick, the wounded, and those stranded—as well as the return of other stranded citizens and the departure of a Yemeni delegation to attend a funeral—as an unforgivable crime. To the Saudis, lifting the siege on our country is entirely out of the question. In a brazen, provocative display of arrogance, they launched airstrikes on Sana’a International Airport in broad daylight. This unprovoked assault mirrors the very beginning of their aggression years ago. They strike without justification, meddling in matters that are absolutely none of their business. We had done nothing to provoke them, yet, driven by sheer malice and tyranny, they bomb our country and assault our people. They have turned the freedom of our airports and seaports and the entry of goods into Yemen, including essential food supplies, into issues over which they wage war against us. They consider anything done without their permission or approval to be a provocation, something unacceptable, and a dangerous act that they cannot allow. In other words, they are challenging our right to freedom. They are challenging our right as a Yemeni people to operate our airports, to receive goods, and to manage our own affairs—matters that are our legitimate rights and that are none of their concern whatsoever. Neither they nor anyone else in the world has any shred of legal justification to do so. These are inalienable rights, firmly enshrined in international law, global norms, and international charters. They belong inherently to the Yemeni people, and no power on earth has the right to strip our people of them.

The Saudi regime is angered simply because a response was made—even though it was a limited response, one that fell far short of what this free, proud, honourable, and courageous people had hoped for. It was, however, a reminder to the Saudi enemy. As for the real equation, it is clear: Sana’a Airport for Riyadh Airport, airports for airports, seaports for seaports, and blockade for blockade.

The Saudis take a flawed, wrongful, and oppressive position when they act arrogantly and move towards a full-scale escalation simply because we refuse to accept the continuation of the siege. Why do they insist on continuing to besiege and starve our people? Why do they insist on depriving them of their oil and gas wealth and the revenues generated from it? Why do they want our people to remain consumed by hunger, with misery in every home? All of this is in service of Zionism. It is in service of the Americans, the Israelis, and the British.

Why does the Saudi regime view the freedom of our ports, the freedom of our airports, and the entry of our people’s goods as a problem or even a crime—something it fights us over and creates major conflicts with us because of? Does this kind of absurdity happen anywhere else in the world—outside of Gaza and Palestine? Nowhere else do you see one country attack another simply because its citizens want to import goods, travel abroad for medical treatment, or go about their daily lives. Yet the Saudi regime has made these ordinary, everyday activities a source of conflict with us in our own country.

This is why the Yemeni people will never accept this status quo. No Yemeni tribe, and no free, honourable person in this country, would ever tolerate such a thing. Could anyone accept having the Saudis control their goods, their homes, their airports, their travel, their ports, and their everyday movement? Could anyone accept the Saudis imposing everything upon them—interfering in their political affairs, deciding who should hold positions of authority as officials, presidents, and leaders, depriving them of their oil wealth and legitimate rights, controlling them economically, and controlling even their ability to travel in and out of the country and to move their goods? This can never be accepted. It means confiscating our freedom, violating our human dignity, and denying us our legitimate rights.

That is why, when the Saudis say that we did not seek or obtain their approval, is this not the language of arrogance and hubris? Would our proud people accept this? Would our free tribes—who have remained free throughout their entire history—ever accept being reduced to this level of subjugation and servitude to the Saudis? If I were to call upon you right now, tribe by tribe across this nation, is there a single tribe that would draft and sign a petition declaring its willingness to be a slave to the Saudis? To agree that it cannot make a move without Saudi permission, cannot act without their command, and must submit to their every whim—all to serve Zionism: the Americans, the Israelis, and the British?! Whoever does that has abandoned everything: his humanity, his freedom, his honour, his dignity, and his tribal roots.

We are a free people. Freedom runs through our veins. Freedom is our faith. We will never accept being slaves to anyone except Allah—because He is our Lord, our Sovereign, and our God. Therefore, we are ready to strive in the cause of Allah and fight anyone who seeks to enslave us besides Allah.

Far be it from us to allow anyone to dictate our lives—demanding that we do nothing without their permission, make no move without their consent, and receive not a single morsel of food, sustenance, or cargo without their approval. To hell with the idea that we would ever accept such domination! We are a free people. Throughout all these years, our dear people have stood firm with freedom and dignity, and from the very beginning, they rejected such subjugation. They fought for their freedom, their honour, their dignity, their faith, their values, and their pride. Tens of thousands answered the call and went to the front lines with the spirit of freedom running through their veins, carrying an unwavering faith in their hearts and souls and armed with an absolute rejection of oppression, unshakeable courage, dignity, and deep spiritual pride. They fought with unwavering resolve. Thousands of the sons of this nation rushed to every front to face the enemy, some even marching into battle barefoot. For it is fundamentally impossible for us to accept subservience, submission, surrender, or the confiscation of our freedom and dignity. We refused to bow to the Americans; we confronted them despite all their immense power and tyranny. We confronted their aircraft carriers at sea. We faced American oppression directly. We faced the Israelis directly. We faced the British directly. So, will we now submit and surrender to their mere slave who glorifies them, bows to them, worships them instead of Allah, and obeys their commands in open defiance of Allah? Will we yield and submit? That is absolutely impossible.

Since the very first day of the American-Saudi aggression against our country, we have declared: Surrender is simply not an option in Yemen. It is entirely off the table. Surrendering means subjugation and enslavement to someone other than Allah, the Almighty. Submitting to a criminal, oppressive tyrant is something we will absolutely never accept.

By stubbornly persisting with the blockade and steering towards all-out war—as all indicators now show—the Saudi regime firmly places itself in the role of an unjust, tyrannical aggressor, acting completely without right. What kind of conflict is this, where their core issue with us revolves around our airports, our seaports, the basic goods we import, and the national oil wealth they strip from the Yemeni people? What kind of grievance is this?! Where else in the world do countries wage war against others simply to prevent another country’s airports from operating or its goods from entering its territory? This is the kind of conduct we see in Palestine and Gaza at the hands of the unjust, criminal, and oppressive Zionist Israeli enemy. We will never accept it from the Saudi regime. Never.

That is why our resolve is unwavering. This is a matter of freedom, dignity, faith, and rights that are recognised throughout the world. We are ready to make whatever sacrifices are required and bear whatever the cost may be to reject the continuation of the blockade and to confront the full-scale aggression that the Saudi regime is driving towards.

Our dear people, through their massive and overwhelmingly attended tribal gatherings, have made it unmistakably clear that this is their choice. Our people will choose nothing but freedom, nothing but dignity, nothing but their legitimate rights and steadfast adherence to them. Their choice is to strive in the cause of Allah to defend all of that.

Likewise, the official position of our dear people is clear, as is the reality of the situation and the path we have chosen. Our resolve remains firm, whatever the sacrifices may be. Neither the Saudis, nor their American master, nor the British, nor the Israelis, nor anyone else in this world will ever be able to enslave us or strip us of our freedom and dignity. If the Saudi regime’s dispute with us is over our very freedom—our right to control our airports, seaports, national wealth, and land; the flow of our goods and our freedom of movement; the right of our patients to travel abroad for medical care; our relations within the Islamic world; or our firm stance against America and Israel—then they are undeniably casting themselves in the role of an arrogant, tyrannical, and oppressive aggressor. By taking this stance, they are dragging themselves into a quagmire with grave consequences and repercussions. They must not delude themselves into thinking this will be a walk in the park; the reality will be vastly different. As they stubbornly persist with their blockade and march towards a full-scale aggression, we will spare no effort in confronting them with everything we currently possess and everything we will possess in the future. We seek help from Allah and place our absolute trust in Him alone. He is the best of allies, the supreme Protector, and the ultimate Supporter.

Our people have demonstrated monumental steadfastness over all these past years. In the future, Allah willing, we will be even more steadfast, more resolute, and more deeply devoted to the cause of Allah, the Almighty. We will be far more effective and impactful on the battlefield.

Every single Saudi oil installation and vital facility will be a direct target for our missiles and drones if the Saudi regime plunges into a full-scale aggression against our country. They will face this reality if they choose escalation instead of having some shame—ending the blockade, ending this disgraceful and arrogant interference in all our affairs. This interference extends even to the smallest details: even a single grain of wheat entering our country requires Saudi authorisation; even a single dose of medicine reaching our people requires approval; even a patient seeking medical treatment abroad needs permission after undergoing reviews that may take four or five months—through the Saudi ambassador, the special committee, or a Saudi officer here or there—all under American, British, or Israeli direction. This is a situation we can never accept. On Friday, our dear people, on this Friday of warning and mobilisation, will affirm to the entire world—not only to the Saudis—that they choose freedom, dignity, the pride of faith. We will never, ever accept the continuation of the blockade or anyone dictating the operations of our seaports and airports, the flow of our goods, the movement of our patients and travellers, or any other aspect of our daily lives. We are a free people, a people honoured by their faith. We will never allow anyone to enslave us other than Allah.

I make this urgent call to our dear people: Allah willing, tomorrow, Friday, the public mobilisation in the capital, Sana’a, and across all governorates must be massive and truly unprecedented. We are standing at a critical crossroads:

• Either we choose freedom, dignity, and honour. This means decisively rejecting the continuation of this siege, the slow strangulation of our people, and the engineered suffering of this nation, which is tormented in every conceivable way: It is deprived of its oil and gas wealth, stripped of its freedom and independence, and subjected to the occupation of vast swaths of its homeland. They impose cruel restrictions, even down to a single pill of medicine, exercising absolute control driven by sheer tyranny and arrogance. We have the choice to stand firm in defending our freedom, seeking Allah’s help as we walk the path of victory and honour. Allah has promised us victory, declaring in the Holy Quran, {‘That is so. And whoever retaliates in equivalence to the injury they have received, and then are wronged [again], Allah will surely give him victory‘}[Al-Hajj 22:60]. This is a divine promise from Allah the Almighty, our Generous Lord: {‘Allah will surely give him victory.‘}
• The other choice is to accept being strangled, humiliated, deprived of our oil and gas wealth, subjected to suffering, starvation, killing, occupation, and domination. Time and again, their tyranny and arrogance have only intensified! We see no prospect or intention on their part towards peace, mutual understanding, or respect for the principles of good neighbourliness. Their entire approach is aimed at tightening their control over this country, stripping it of its freedom and independence, and subjecting its people to hunger and suffering. Their goal is to ensure that no one can obtain money except those who sell their honour, their homeland, their humanity, and their dignity—accepting the fleeting scraps of this worldly life as the price for treason, rather than living with dignity and benefiting from our own national wealth and resources.

Taking to the streets tomorrow is an expression of freedom and dignity. Gathering in the public squares tomorrow signifies that our choice is to be free, not slaves to anyone except Allah—the One, the Supreme. Mobilising tomorrow is a living manifestation of our submission to Allah alone. Therefore, every Yemeni who is able to attend should take part in this demonstration if he truly believes in the oneness of Allah and regards himself as a servant of none but Him. The following days will see a position and a decision that reflect the direction of our people and embody their true character: Blockade will be met with blockade. If the Saudi enemy chooses total escalation, we will respond with total escalation, and our people possess everything needed to stand firm and achieve victory: faith in Allah, reliance upon Him, seeking His help, striving for His sake, freedom, dignity, a sound human nature, and commitment to a just cause. We are an oppressed people whose suffering is unmistakable. The Saudis wrong us without justification, seeking to suffocate an entire nation by starving it, depriving it of its basic rights, inflicting hardship upon it, and exercising control over every aspect of its life—politically, militarily, economically, and even in sport. Such a situation cannot be accepted.

I hope that the turnout, Allah willing, will be unprecedented and worthy of our people. This is about the dignity of a nation, the freedom of a nation, and the faith of a nation. Our people are a noble and great people, with a history filled with honour, and they have stood firm throughout all these years with remarkable and honourable steadfastness. I have spoken at length, but the gravity of this issue demands it.

Our path is clear. We will never accept seeing our dear people subjected to humiliation, enslavement, and oppression, nor can we tolerate the continuation of the suffering and injustice inflicted on them.

I would lay down my life for you, my beloved people. I lay down my life for Allah in your service, so that you may not be wronged, humiliated, oppressed, or enslaved by any tyrant in this world. I am ready to give my all to defend you, your dignity, and your honour and to remain a free people who submit to none but Allah and who refuse to be slaves to none but Him.

I hope, Allah willing, the turnout will be grand and honourable, delivering this profound and historic message.

We ask Allah (Glory be to Him) to grant us success in seeking what pleases Him. O Allah, have mercy on our virtuous martyrs, heal the wounded among us, set free our captives, and grant us victory. You are the Hearer of Prayer!

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.