News - Yemen: Yemen's Minister of Defense, Major General Mohammad Al-Atifi, confirmed that the maritime security of Yemens' territorial waters will be a priority in the next stage.

The Minister of Defense said, Tuesday, "The Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the territorial extension of the Socotra archipelago, and the Yemeni islands are Yemeni lands over which we have full sovereignty."

He explained that the Armed Forces have taken all measures to ensure that they deal forcefully and firmly with any development that poses a threat or prejudice to national sovereignty maritime sovereignty.

He added, "The Armed Forces are concerned with following disciplinary methods for those who plunder or tamper with the rights of the Yemeni people, and there are disciplinary options that will be taken and announced in due course."

Major General Al-Atifi warned, "We have options for which no one will blame us if we resort to them, because we have provided all means to reach a positive end, but the enemy refuses."

He continued, "We are witnessing today hostile, conspiratorial, and sabotage actions and siege are sure testimony that aggression does not want to establish any form of peace, and does not have any real willingness to think positively about stability and peace in the region and respect the will of Yemeni people."
He pointed out that the enemy seeks to turn its direct war into an internal conflict between the people of Yemen, to cause problems, fabricate and provoke them, whether in the free or occupied governorates, tamper with the prisoners' issue, purchase offensive weapons and air defense systems, and establish military bases in the Yemeni islands, and the looting Yemen's oil wealth.

Major General Al-Atifi stated that the Armed Forces, from their patriotic defensive position, will never allow the societal fabric of the people of Yemen to be affected along the Yemeni map. He also warned: "We assure the countries of aggression that we are ready and monitoring with military professionalism and precision all miserable attempts to cause moral and psychological shocks to our forces, as well as monitoring the methods of the siege, and if persistence continues, we will have the right to choose the appropriate response."

He considered the prisoners' issue and the legitimate rights of the Yemeni people, including salaries and others, a humanitarian issue, and no maneuvers, bargains, or tampering will be accepted in that.