US and British interests are “legitimate targets” for Houthis after a series of strikes overnight, said its decision-makers on Friday, January 12.

The Iran-backed group’s Supreme Political Council threatened retaliation after the overnight attacks on dozens of military targets in Houthi-held territory.

“The Americans and the British should not believe that they will escape the punishment of our heroic armed forces,” the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council said in a statement on their official media.

“The joy of the aggressors will not be long, and our hand will be the upper hand, God willing.”

“All American-British interests have become legitimate targets for the Yemeni armed forces in response to their direct and declared aggression against the Republic of Yemen.”

US officials announced later on Friday evening that the Houthis had retaliated to the strikes by firing an anti-ship missile.

The heavy strikes, which killed five people, according to the rebels, followed weeks of Houthi attacks on Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea in protest of Israel’s war against Hamas.

With AFP