Houthi gov’t warns US Navy of ‘costliest war ever’ if it gets too close to Yemen’s waters

Yemen’s Houthi-led National Salvation Government (NSG) has issued a warning to the US Navy against getting too close to the country’s territorial waters, lest the US face the “longest” and “costliest” war in history.

Yesterday, Hussein Al-Ezzi, the deputy foreign minister in the de-facto government based in Sanaa said in a tweet: “In the interest of international peace and security and the preservation of the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, the American forces must move away from our territorial waters.”

The warning came hours after the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said in a statement that more than 3,000 US military personnel had arrived in the Red Sea on board two warships, amid growing tensions with Iran, which has diplomatic relations with Sanaa.

“These units add significant operational flexibility and capability as we work alongside international partners to deter destabilizing activity and deescalate regional tensions caused by Iran’s harassment and seizures of merchant vessels earlier this year,” the US Fifth Fleet spokesman Commander Tim Hawkins said in a statement.

A member of the political bureau of the Houthi movement, Ali Al-Qahoum, yesterday also issued a warning of the danger of US military moves off the Yemeni coast. In a tweet on Qahoum said that Sanaa is closely monitoring the continuous flow of US forces and warships off the Yemeni coast, the strategic Bab Al-Mandab, and the islands. The Houthi official described these moves as “hostile action” targeting Yemen and the entire region, stressing that Yemen is committed to protecting maritime and international navigation and international law.

READ: 5 Yemen soldiers killed in Al-Qaeda attack on Abyan