Sanaa (South24 Center)

Amid the repeated US airstrikes over the past week, the Houthis organized an international conference titled ’Palestine: The Central Cause of the Nation’ in Sanaa on Saturday (March 22). The event was attended by delegations representing factions aligned with the Iran-led Axis of Resistance, including former Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Hamas’ representative in Yemen, Moaz Abu Shamala.

The conference, the third of its kind according to the Houthi-controlled Saba News Agency, comes amid an escalation in Houthi attacks against Israel, coinciding with a large-scale US military campaign targeting Houthi-linked sites in several northern Yemeni governorates.

Addressing the conference, former Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi stated that Yemen has “developed a new equation in the history of the conflict against the Zionist occupation”, referring to the Houthi attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea.

In his speech, Abdul-Mahdi praised the role of Top Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi, asserting that Yemen is now at the forefront of those “taking the battle inside Israel”.

Abdul-Mahdi’s remarks came amid speculation raised by Yemeni media about his visit to Sanaa. Some linked the visit to a message from Iran to the Houthis regarding escalation with the United States.

For his part, Moaz Abu Shamala, Hamas’ representative in Yemen, commended what he described as the tangible support provided by the Houthi group to the Palestinians.

He added that “the aggression on Gaza will not break the will of the resistance,” emphasizing that the agreement signed by Palestinian resistance factions in May 2024 and reaffirmed in January 2025 remains a reference for the political and field battle, despite what he described as “Israeli attempts to undermine it.”

The conference was also attended by Zwelivelile ‘Mandla’ Mandela, the grandson of the late South African leader Nelson Mandela. In a brief speech, he called for global solidarity with Palestine, echoing the conference’s theme of unifying efforts to support the Palestinian cause.