Houthis threaten US interests for supporting Saudi Arabia

Yemen's Houthis will hit American interests in the region in the event of US support for Saudi Arabia or intervention in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a military adviser to the pro-Iranian movement warned in an interview with AFP. The Houthis and Iran form “a single alliance and a single bloc,” said this military advisor.

If the United States “dared to support Saudi Arabia with air strikes or air support (...) we would consider all American interests around us as targets,” said Abed Mohammed al-Thawr, advisor to the minister responsible for Defense in the self-proclaimed government of Houthi fighters. The military adviser also described a possible American intervention in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as a “red line”.

This passage linking Europe to Asia via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, already very busy before the war in the Middle East, has become even more important for world trade and in particular for Saudi Arabia, the world's leading exporter of crude, since Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemen plunged back into war in July after several years of calm, drawn into the regional conflict triggered at the end of February by the American-Israeli offensive against Iran. The Houthis, who until then controlled a large part of the north of the country, including the capital Sanaa, advanced on the west coast in a few days and strengthened their control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

They also struck Saudi Arabia, an ally of the Yemeni government recognized by the international community, notably Riyadh last Saturday. According to American media, Donald Trump refused to order strikes against the Houthis at the request of Saudi Arabia - struggling against these fighters despite its military power.

On Sunday according to Fox News, the American president affirmed that the Houthis had agreed not to attack the United States, as if to justify his decision not to strike them. The Saudi kingdom, for its part, responded with regular strikes on areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, without succeeding for the moment in pushing them back.

The fighting has already left hundreds dead since September, according to sources within the Houthis and government forces. The war in Yemen erupted in 2014 when the Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa and then other regions, triggering a Saudi-led military intervention in 2015. A truce was concluded in 2022 but fighting resumed in July.