On 23 August, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement, gave a speech to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Zaid and to call on Yemenis to adhere to the principles of independence and for the restoration of the occupied territories.

The Ansarallah leader specified three priorities for the people of Yemen: “to confront aggression, maintain internal stability, and correct the situation of state institutions.”

Al-Houthi used the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Zaid to draw parallelism to the current situation.

“At this stage, as a nation in general and a Yemeni people in particular, we are concerned to face what the martyr Imam Zaid bin Ali, peace be upon them both, faced in that era in the face of the tyranny of our time represented by America and Israel and those who ally with them to strike the nation’s peoples,” the Ansarallah leader said.

He continued by adding that the normalization of relations with the US and with Israel is treason. Stressing that their main objective is to besiege the Yemeni people and pillage the country’s wealth and capabilities. More specifically, oil and gas amidst a global shortage of fossil fuels.

He emphasized the importance of finding alternatives to the looted oil and gas revenues until the liberation of all oil facilities. However, he recognized that this was not an easy task given the current siege by the Saudi-led coalition. It requires work programs and mobilization of the production process in different sectors of the economy and society.

Regarding the UN-brokered ceasefire, Al-Houthi stressed that “one of the priorities, in light of the temporary truce, is to maintain a high degree of readiness, and to pay attention to all the plans of the enemies.”

Recently, in the resource-rich southern Shabwah region, there were severe confrontations between opposing movements. According to the governor of the region, the Saudi-led and US-backed coalition seeks to gain control of the province because of its natural resources.

Shabwah governor Awad al-Awlaqi stated on 23 August that the attacks on the region ” revealed the Saudi-Emirati occupation’s endeavor to plunder Yemen’s wealth by imposing their control on the land to serve the interests of Western countries, led by the United States and Britain, which was achieved by the arrival of foreign forces to the province a few days ago.”

The governor also stressed that the countries of the Saudi-led coalition and its local allies used the ceasefire to arrange the needed conditions to complete their control over the southern provinces, ports, and oil and gas fields to continue looting Yemen’s wealth in light of the global energy crisis.