<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>&nbsp;Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have launched missiles and drones at cargo ships in the Red Sea, warned today that they would strike back if attacked by US forces.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“If the Americans intend to escalate further, get more involved and commit foolishness by targeting our country … we will target them,” said rebel leader Abdel-Malek al-Huthi.</div><div><br></div><div>“We will make American battleships, American interests and American navigation a target for our missiles and drones,” he said in a speech broadcast on the rebel’s Al-Masirah television.</div><div><br></div><div>His comments came after the US said it was building up a multinational naval task force to protect vessels transiting the Red Sea from Houthi attacks carried out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.</div><div><br></div><div>The US aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower has entered the Gulf of Aden, according to a US navy spokesman.</div><div><br></div><div>The rebels have launched more than 100 drone and missile attacks, targeting 10 merchant vessels, according to the Pentagon, from the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.</div><div><br></div><div>The Houthis say their strikes on passing container ships are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war raging between Israel and Hamas since Oct 7.</div><div><br></div><div>In his latest speech, the Houthi leader warned states against joining the new taskforce, saying it would threaten their interests in the Red Sea.</div><div><br></div><div>“When you involve yourselves with the Americans in the service of Israel, you are implicating your people in every sense of the word,” he said.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier yesterday, a top Houthi official warned that any nation that acts against the Yemeni rebels will have its ships targeted.</div><div><br></div><div>“Any country that moves against us will have its ships targeted in the Red Sea,” Mohammed Ali al-Huthi said in a televised interview with Iran’s Al-Alam television.&nbsp; Source: AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>