SANAA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis rebels, who have launched missiles and drones at cargo ships in the Red Sea, warned Wednesday that they would strike back if attacked by US forces.

“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-Houthis.

“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.

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His comments came after the United States said it was building up a multinational naval task force to protect vessels transitting the Red Sea from Houthis attacks carried out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The US aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has entered the Gulf of Aden, according to a US Navy spokesperson.

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.

The Houthis say their strikes on passing container ships are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war raging between Israel and Hamas since October 7.

In his latest speech, the Houthis leader warned states against joining the new taskforce, saying it would threaten their interests in the Red Sea.

“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.

Earlier on Tuesday, a top Houthis official warned that any nation that acts against the Yemeni rebels will have its ships targeted.

“Any country that moves against us will have its ships targeted in the Red Sea,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthis said in a televised interview with Iran’s Al-Alam television.