Speaking to AFP, Brigadier General Abed Mohammed Al-Thawr, military adviser to Yemen’s Defense Ministry, said any US naval intervention or attempt to seize control of the Bab al-Mandab would cross a red line for Yemen.
“If America dares to intervene militarily with its fleet or attempts to control Bab al-Mandab, this will be our red line and that of everyone else, and we will fight over it,” he said.
Al-Thawr added that if Washington intervened to support Saudi Arabia by providing airstrikes or air support to Riyadh, Yemen would consider all US interests in the surrounding area potential targets.
“We will consider all American interests around us as targets and will make no exceptions,” he said.
He also warned that under such circumstances, the Bab al-Mandab Strait would be completely closed to US vessels.
The threat of escalation comes as Sana’a continues to respond to Saudi attacks with military operations targeting Saudi positions and economic infrastructure.
Yahya Saree, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said the forces had carried out two retaliatory operations targeting a sensitive site in Riyadh and Saudi Aramco in Yanbu with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and attack drones.
Saree said 1,018 Saudi air and missile attacks had been recorded since the escalation of tensions began, adding that the attacks had killed and wounded civilians and damaged Yemen’s civilian infrastructure.
With Sana’a condemning Saudi Arabia for the latest the attacks, Al-Thawr’s warning places any potential US support for Riyadh within the same confrontation, with Washington’s regional interests potentially becoming targets.
Al-Thawr also addressed Yemen’s relationship with Iran, stressing that Tehran does not dictate Sana’a’s decisions and that Yemen remains independent in its decision-making and sovereignty.
“Iran is a friendly, allied and brotherly country to us, but it does not give us orders. We are independent in our decisions and sovereignty,” he said.
He nevertheless described the relationship between the two sides as “an alliance and one body.”
Al-Thawr also warned Saudi Arabia that continued attacks on Yemen would be met with an “iron fist.”
He said Sana’a’s forces have sufficient capabilities to “punish and penalize Saudi Arabia” and remove the country from the arena in the oil and economic sectors.