Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, said Thursday that years of war and foreign intervention against Yemen were driven by strategic and economic ambitions rather than security concerns. Speaking in a televised address, al-Houthi argued that foreign powers sought to fully occupy Yemen in order to exploit its strategic location and untapped natural resources, portraying the conflict as a deliberate effort to subjugate the country and its people.
Al-Houthi claimed that if Yemen had fallen entirely under foreign control, the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia, and their allies would have turned the country into a platform for military bases while extracting its resources. He described what he called an “engineered aggression” overseen by Washington and London and aligned with Israeli interests, asserting that the Saudi-led coalition bore primary responsibility for the military campaign and its consequences.
The Houthi leader pointed to widespread civilian suffering as evidence of what he described as systematic injustice. He cited the killing of children, women, and the elderly, as well as attacks on cities, villages, markets, roads, and hospitals. Al-Houthi also accused coalition forces of targeting civilian infrastructure, including farms, mosques, and a shelter for the blind, and of waging economic warfare through blockades and the control of ports, which he said deepened humanitarian suffering.
Expanding his criticism beyond Yemen, al-Houthi warned Arab and Islamic governments against seeking favor with the United States, arguing that no level of political or financial cooperation would grant them influence comparable to Israel’s position in Washington’s regional strategy. He said attempts by regional governments to align closely with the United States would ultimately fail, accusing them of abandoning religious and political principles in pursuit of short-term advantage.
Al-Houthi framed the conflict within a broader ideological narrative, asserting that the United States supports what he described as a Zionist project aimed at establishing a “Greater Israel,” concealed behind peace initiatives and normalization agreements. According to him, American policy in the region is driven by a desire to suppress any independent political systems, popular movements, or individuals who resist foreign domination.
Concluding his remarks, al-Houthi said that U.S. and Israeli goals in the Middle East extend beyond Yemen to encompass full control over the region’s peoples, resources, and strategic geography. He portrayed the ongoing conflict as part of a wider struggle against what he described as foreign domination and exploitation, reaffirming the Houthis’ narrative that their actions are rooted in resistance rather than aggression.
