Statement of the ILPS
The
International League of Peoples’ Struggle celebrates wholeheartedly the
brave victories of Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement in repelling
Saudi-backed mercenaries and establishing their control over more of
Yemen’s territory. This is a win for the Yemeni people, for the entire
Axis of Resistance of West Asia, and for all struggling peoples of the
world fighting against US-Zionist imperialism.
On
September 11, 2026, fighters with Ansar Allah successfully gained
control over the entire western coast of Yemen, giving them control over
the entire eastern bank of the Bab al Mandab waterway entrance into the
Red Sea. Instead of holding their territory and facing Ansar Allah on
the battlefield, the mercenary fighters, fully funded by the Saudi
military that has nearly 400 US-made fighter jets and the armed strength
of over 200,000 soldiers, crumbled in just around a week before Ansar
Allah’s iron unity and will to liberate their land.
This
crucial achievement puts one of the world’s strategic trade routes–the
connection between the Pacific and Indian Oceans with the Mediterranean
Sea via the Suez Canal–almost fully into the hands of the Axis of
Resistance. This comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains in the sovereign
control of Iran, amounting to around 35% of global trade between the two
waterways.
The
confrontation between Ansar Allah and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
reignited in July as Saudi missiles fired at an airline carrying Yemeni
representatives from Tehran to Sana’a after attending the mass funeral
of martyred Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ansar Allah declared this an act of
war and responded by launching missiles and drones to shut down Saudi
Arabia’s Abha International Airport, following this with a naval
blockade of the Bab al Mandab against ships doing business with Saudi
Arabia.
The
renewed fighting between Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia spread to Yemen’s
territory itself as the Saudi-backed and US-armed “Presidential
Leadership Council” (PLC), illegitimately claiming leadership over Yemen
from their desert bases in the east of the country, made an attempt to
storm Sana’a. Ansar Allah repelled PLC forces while launching attacks on
Saudi energy infrastructure in the cities of Khamis
Mushait, Abha, Jizan, and Najran.
On
September 10, Ansar Allah fighters captured the port city of Mokha, the
largest of the port cities still held by the PLC. On September 11,
Ansar Allah established control over the southern city of Dhubab and
Mayyun Island lying to the north of the Bab al Mandab, effectively
establishing control over the vital Red Sea coastal shipping corridor.
While advancing, Ansar Allah’s government declared amnesty for any
Yemenis fighting with the PLC who surrendered, an offer that many
mercenaries took as they gave themselves up to the Sana’a government.
Upon taking authority over these cities, Ansar Allah immediately began
assessing the people’s needs. In the city of Mokha, they distributed
20,000 baskets of food and announced plans to send medical equipment
from Sana’a to bolster local hospitals.
PLC
forces have been shelling the territory now held by Ansar Allah,
contributing to the displacement of civilians. Saudi warplanes continue
to bomb Yemen as well, with 129 airstrikes carried out across Yemen in
the past 48 hours alone targeting Taiz, Marib, Hodeidah, al-Jawf, Saada,
Amran, and Hajjah. These indiscriminate airstrikes are all that the
Saudi enemy now has left to offer as the PLC is rapidly falling apart
and the kingdom’s allies, such as Pakistan and Turkiye within the
recently signed Mecca Defense Pact, are unwilling to enter the
Saudi-Ansar Allah war as they are well aware that they are incapable of
defeating the Ansar Allah.
The
Ansar Allah blockade of the Bab al Mandab has held back ships sailing
for Saudi Arabia, but has kept other traffic running as normal, with 73
identifiable ships being allowed to pass on September 10 and 11,
amounting to 98.6% of average traffic levels before the blockade was
implemented. Yet, the Supreme Political Council of Ansar Allah warned
that, “any foolishness committed against our country will be confronted
even if the impact extends globally, and we remind that the region is on
a hot plate, and whoever wants to start a fire must bear the
consequences.”
This
statement, and the actions it stems from, demonstrate the care and
solidarity with the people of the world who are impacted by economic
blockades in terms of shipment of food, fertilizer, energy, and other
basic necessities. It must be remembered that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and
other Gulf monarchies backed by the US, imposed a blockade of the
Yemeni people between 2015 and 2022 in at attempt to isolate and defeat
Ansar Allah, leading to the deaths of at least 223,000 farmers,
pastoralists, and city-dwellers alike from starvation and malnutrition,
echoing “Israel’s” own blockade and forced starvation of Gaza that
continues to this day. In the hands of the imperialists, Zionists and
the Gulf monarchies, blockades are a tool of genocide, conquest, war and
aggression; in the hands of Ansar Allah and the resistance, it is a
tool for asserting sovereignty and economic self-determination by
compelling imperialist aggressor states to cease their attacks. It is
also an act of solidarity with the people of Palestine as Ansar Allah’s
control over the Bab al Mandab gives it further control to blockade
ships doing business with the Zionist entity as well.
These
recent events also highlight how world-changing events affecting global
superpowers and greatly shifting power alignments in West Asia can come
about through the strength of the people taking up arms and fighting,
through immense sacrifice, to achieve and defend their sovereignty. The
people make history through their united struggle. As the US, “Israel,”
and other US-Zionist puppet states in the region maneuver to isolate and
force resistance forces to disarm in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq,
Ansar Allah’s victories in Yemen give inspiration not only to the other
West Asia fighters of the Axis of Resistance, but to all revolutionary
and people’s movements taking up arms against their fascist
US-collaborator governments to achieve national liberation for their
peoples.
The
ILPS stands with the people of Yemen and salutes their fighters
standing triumphant on their own land over the destroyed ruins of
US-made and Saudi-provided military vehicles. The land and waterways of
West Asia belong to the people, not to the imperialists nor the Zionist
or Saudi fascists!
Signed,
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
