SANAA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's armed Houthi group on Friday vowed to launch more attacks on commercial shipping vessels, just a few hours after the U.S. designation of the group as a "global terrorist organization" came into effect.
"We continue to support Gaza (Hamas) by all available means, and we continue to prevent Israeli-linked ships from sailing in the Red Sea until the Israeli aggression on Palestinian people stops and the siege on Gaza is lifted," Mohammed Abdulsalam, chief of Houthi negotiator, told Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
"America is the one who encourages and supports global terrorism by supporting Israel, and it's coming to our seas and attacking our lands are terrorist acts," the television quoted Abdulsalam as saying.
"We will not be affected by the U.S. designation and sanctions," the Houthi top negotiator said.
The U.S. government said the decision to re-list the Houthis as "terrorists" came after the group launched dozens of missile attacks since last year on civilian commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, disrupting the freedom of International trade flow.
In the past 24 hours, the Houthi group has fired multiple missile attacks on two international commercial ships sailing off Yemen, according to Britain's Maritime Trade Operations agency. ■
