During a televised speech on 23 February, the leader of Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said that the presence of US, British, Saudi, and Emirati troops in Yemen are unacceptable and that the resistance has the right to deal with its aggression and occupation of the country.

“We say to the American, the British, the Saudi, and the Emirati, leave all our provinces and our territorial waters,” he said.

Al-Houthi denounced the US for prolonging the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in order to make enormous profits from arms deals with Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, which are waging a devastating war on the country, according to SABA news agency.

“The US is behind many wars and conflicts and the criminal practices that go on in the world so that their arms sales companies can profit…They are behind the confiscation of peoples’ rights to freedom and independence, as in Palestine,” he said.

The leader of the Ansarallah resistance movement made the comments as people gathered in the capital city of Sanaa for a ceremony to honor the late Saleh al-Sammad, the head of the country’s Supreme Political Council, who was killed by a drone strike by the Saudi-led coalition on 23 April 2018.

“The alliance of aggression has perpetrated absolutely horrendous and horrifying crimes and acts of savagery in Yemen under the auspices of the US, Israel, and Britain. Nothing can justify their crimes,” Al-Houthi said in regard to the extent of the brutality unleashed by the Saudi-led coalition.

These statements come at a time when the UN and regional countries, particularly Oman, are making continuous efforts to extend a comprehensive ceasefire in the country, which lasted six months and officially ended last October.

Al-Houthi also insisted that the course of any dialogue or agreement must lead to the withdrawal of occupation forces and the prevention of foreign interference in Yemen’s internal affairs.

“We cannot accept the presence of occupying forces on Yemeni soil, as their deployment translates into interference in our domestic affairs…We will spare no effort to drive occupying American and British forces out of our country,” the Ansarallah leader stressed.

Earlier in January, Abdul Malik al-Houthi said that despite efforts to renew the UN-brokered humanitarian ceasefire, the country remains in a state of war which is being fueled by the US and its allies.

Despite ups and downs over the last few months, it was reported in January that the talks had borne some fruit, as Saudi Arabia has reportedly agreed to eventually lift the blockade on Hodeidah port and Sanaa International Airport, as well as pay the salaries of government employees in the territories affiliated with the National Salvation Government (NSG), as was stipulated in the initial agreement.