The leader of Yemen’s Houthis warned they would strike US warships if the Iranian-backed militia was targeted by Washington, which this week set up a multinational force to counter Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis, which control vast amounts of territory in Yemen after years of war, have since last month fired drones and missiles at international vessels sailing through the Red Sea, attacks it says respond to Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.
The US-led security initiative will see Washington and ten other, mostly NATO countries patrol the Red Sea to deter and respond to future Houthi attacks that have so far led to major global shipping lines rerouting around Africa instead.
“We will not stand idly by if the Americans are tempted to escalate further and commit foolishness by targeting our country or waging war against it,” Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said.
“Any American targeting of our country will be targeted by us, and we will make American battleships, interests, and navigation a target for our missiles, drones, and military operations,” he said in a televised speech.
Dubbed “Operation Prosperity Guardian”, Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain, along with the U.S., will conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the adjacent Gulf of Aden.
“As long as the Americans want to enter into a direct war with us, they should know that we are not those who fear them, and that they are facing an entire people,” al-Houthi said.
He warned the Americans against sending soldiers to Yemen, saying they would “face something harsher than what they faced in Afghanistan and what they suffered in Vietnam.”
