Yemen Slams Hizbullah 'Support of Huthis' in Letter to Bassil

Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled Hussein al-Yamani has protested alleged Hizbullah support for Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, in a letter sent to his Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil.

“We in the Yemeni Republic reserve the right to present the matter to the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the U.N. Security Council,” Yamani warned.

He noted that “the party’s support for the Huthi militia appeared to be clear in the televised speech of (Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah on June 29, 2018, in which he incited them to fight the Yemeni government forces, and expressed his ambition and that of his party's militants to fight in Yemen in favor of the coup.”

Nasrallah's speech, he said, “supported the Huthi militia against the internationally recognized legitimate authority, in a blatant interference in the internal affairs” of Yemen.

This “would seriously damage the interests of Yemen and its national security and would fuel the flames of war, which will continue to destabilize security and stability in the region,” al-Yamani warned.

And urging the Lebanese government to “rein in” Hizbullah “in line with the dissociation policy,” Yamani accused the Iran-backed party of “taking part in training, plotting and incitement” in support of the Huthi rebels.

In his speech, Nasrallah had denied that any of Hizbullah's fighters were killed in Yemen after recent claims by the Saudi-led coalition that it killed eight of its members there.

"We've recently said that for certain reasons and interests, we do not say whether we have a presence in Yemen," Nasrallah said during a televised address. 

"But whether we're there or not, I categorically deny that there are Hizbullah martyrs in Yemen -- not in the last few days nor in recent years," he said. 

Nasrallah has denied sending fighters or weapons to Yemen in the past. 

"Is there something else? We do not deny, we do not confirm," he said on June 29.

The Saudi-led coalition has repeatedly accused Hizbullah and its backer Iran of providing help to Huthi rebels, including ballistic missiles from Tehran that have targeted Saudi Arabia.

Iran denies arming the Huthis.