Houthis Warn Direct US Aggression In Yemen Will Not Be Tolerated

Yemen's Houthi Supreme Political Council has warned the US and Israel that they will face an "unpredicted" response if a direct attack is launched against them.

“If we are directly attacked by the US and Israel, they will face a response that they do not expect and predict,” Yasser al-Huri Secretary of Yemen's Supreme Political Council told Iran’s Official News Agency IRNA on Sunday.

"Battlefields will be expanded and methods of confrontation will be more varied", al-Huri added.

The Houthis in Yemen, who receive military assistance and weapons from Iran, began attacking commercial shipping in mid-November in response to the call of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to block Israeli trade, but as the world's main oil route, it has garnered a global response. 

The attacks have caused some shipping companies, including four of the largest five, to cease operations on this route for security reasons.

The US announced a coalition to safeguard commercial traffic in the Red Sea following the disruption in global maritime trade. As of Thursday, more than 20 countries have agreed to participate in the joint naval patrol near Yemen.

While the US has avoided pointing direct blame at Iran for regional tensions, instead focusing on its proxies, the Pentagon announced that the kamikaze drone that struck an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean early Saturday morning was launched directly from Iran.