Saudi-led strikes on Yemen
Photo: EPA
Hezbollah blasts Saudi-led strikes as Yemen shuts ports
Lebanon-based terror group criticizes 'unjust aggression' on Houthi rebels, echoing earlier condemnation by Tehran.
Hezbollah condemned as "unjust aggression" Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen on Thursday and said it takes the region towards increased tension.
The Shiite group, backed by Iran, followed in its benefactor's steps and called on Saudi Arabia and its allies to immediately and unconditionally halt the strikes.
"This adventure, (which) lacks wisdom and legal and legitimate justification and which is led by Saudi Arabia, is taking the region towards increased tension and dangers for the future and the present of the region," its statement said.
Saudi-led strikes on Yemeni rebels (Photo: EPA)
"We see that this aggression secures American interests and offers a great favor for the Zionist enemy," it said, a reference to Israel.
Earlier, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the strikes would lead only to greater loss of life.
"Military action from outside of Yemen against its territorial integrity and its people will have no result other than more bloodshed and more deaths," he told Al-Alam television, Iran's Arabic-language channel.
Tehran has denied playing any part in the rebel power grab in Yemen, but government officials have criticized the Yemeni president for revoking an offer to resign and accuse him of stoking the crisis.
Top commanders from Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have also alluded to the crisis, declaring that the Islamic revolution of 1979 is now "being exported" across the region, naming Yemen, Syria and Iraq as new spheres of interest.
Meanwhile, Yemen shut its major seaports, industry and local sources said, after the Arab allies launched air strikes against Iran-allied Houthi forces fighting Yemen's Western-backed president.
Warplanes bombed sites near Houthi-held capital Sana'a and their positions near the Saudi border. In the south, Houthis and army loyalists battled with militiamen loyal to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi near the port city of Aden.
"All major seaports were shut down on Thursday due to the rising conflict," said an industry source. Local sources in Yemen confirmed the closure.
Houthi rebel protest (Photo: Reuters)
The US coast guard issued restrictions on some vessels arriving into the United States from a number of Yemeni ports that "do not maintain effective anti-terrorism measures", according to a statement.
Yemen exports about 1.5 million barrels of Masila crude each month, mainly to China.
The ports closed include Aden, Al Mukalla, Al Mokha and Al Hudaydah, the sources said, giving no further details. "It looks like no one is working at the ports across Yemen today," a shipping industry source told Reuters.
On Wednesday, public sector workers in Aden were instructed to return home and some residents armed themselves as the conflict between Hadi's supporters and the Houthis and their allies came to a head.
The US coast guard said conditions of entry would be imposed on vessels arriving from al-Shehr and Al Hudaydah. "The 2012 exception remains in place for vessels arriving from the Balhaf LNG," it added.
The majority of Yemen's oil production is located in the north of the country, while the rest comes from the southern area of Shabwa.
French oil company Total is the biggest foreign investor in Yemen and operates the Balhaf gas export facility, which mainly exports natural gas to Asia and Europe.
Reuters and the AFP contributed to this report.
