by WorldTribune Staff, August 20, 2018
Delegations from two of Iran’s top terrorist proxies reportedly met in Lebanon this past weekend amid questions about Iran’s ability to project power in the region under new U.S. sanctions.
Hizbullah said on Aug. 19 that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, met with a delegation from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, The Associated Press reported.
Hizbullah reportedly trains and supports the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been at war over the last several years with a Saudi-led coalition allied with Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
The report said that the Houthi delegation was headed by the terror group’s spokesman, Mohamad Abdelsalam, who discussed the latest developments in the Yemen conflict with Nasrallah.
A Yemen official recently credited the Trump administration’s exit from the Iran nuclear deal and its decision to reimpose sanctions for a weakening of the Houthi offensive in Yemen.
“Any way that support from Iran is lessened is helpful in stopping the war,” Abd-Rabbo Moftah, deputy governor of the Yemeni city of Ma’rib, told Fox News. “The Houthis were feeding on this (nuclear) deal and its legitimacy.”
Related: Yemen official credits Trump’s Iran strategy for reduced backing of Houthi fighters, Aug. 10, 2018.
Moftah said “there is still some support” from Iran for the Houthis but “we have seen it drop since the U.S. pulled out” of the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“It has long been believed that Iran is planning to use the Houthis to take over Yemen and seize the key strategic port of Aden, which controls the entrance to the Red Sea and ultimately to the Israeli resort city of Eilat,” Arutz Sheva noted in an Aug. 20 report.
Iran denies it is backing the Houthis and has also denied Saudi Arabian accusations that Teheran provided the Houthi rebels in Yemen with ballistic capabilities.
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Houthis provide Yemen update to Hizbullah officials in Lebanon added by World Tribune on
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