Houthis Warn US Against Striking Yemen: ‘The Hell of Vietnam Will Be a Walk in the Park’
Houthi policemen ride on the back of a patrol pick-up truck during the funeral of Houthi terrorists killed by recent US-led strikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The so-called “foreign minister” of the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen has warned that if the US takes military action against the western Yemeni port of Al-Hudaydah on the Red Sea, it will suffer consequences severe enough to make the “hell” experienced by American soldiers during the Vietnam War feel like a “walk in the park.”
Jamal Ahmed Ali Amer wrote on X/Twitter on Sunday that the “American administration” was plotting to harm Yemen, where the Houthis have controlled a significant portion of the country’s land in the north and along the Red Sea since 2014, when they captured it in the midst of the country’s civil war.
Amer then claimed that the US began “leaking” information about its alleged plan to “invade” Al-Hudaydah “all in support of the entity and to force the leadership to stop supporting Gaza.” It was unclear what leaked information and supposed invasion plans he was referencing.
If the US “acts rashly,” the top Houthi official continued, “the hell of Vietnam will be just a walk in the park. Free people do not kneel and the American regime is not the ruler by the command of God.”
About 58,000 US service members died during the Vietnam War.
Amer’s tweet came four days after the US carried out a round of strikes in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthis, a US-designated terrorist group, hitting five underground storage facilities housing weapons used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region.
“This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement after last week’s military strikes. “The employment of US Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere.”
The Houthis began disrupting global trade in a major way with their attacks on shipping in the busy Red Sea corridor after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, arguing their aggression was a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza.
The Houthi rebels — whose slogan is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam” — have said they will target all ships heading to Israeli ports, even if they do not pass through the Red Sea, and claimed responsibility for attempted drone and missile strikes targeting Israel.
Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught, which launched the ongoing war in Gaza, Houthi terrorists in Yemen have routinely launched ballistic missiles toward Israel’s southern city of Eilat. In July, they hit the center of Tel Aviv with a long-range Iranian-made drone.
Then last month, the Houthis reached central Israel with a missile for the first time. Israeli air defenses intercepted fragments of a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen that exploded over Israel’s central region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a “heavy price” on the Houthis for the attack.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released a report in July revealing how Iran has been “smuggling weapons and weapons components to the Houthis.”
The report noted that the Houthis used Iranian-supplied ballistic and cruise missiles to conduct over a hundred land attacks on Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and within Yemen, as well as dozens of attacks on merchant shipping.
Iran also backs Hamas, providing the Islamist terror group with weapons, funding, and training.
While the Houthis have increasingly targeted Israeli soil in recent months, they have primarily attacked ships in the Red Sea, a key trade route, having a major economic impact by disrupting global shipping and raising the cost of shipping and insurance. Shipping firms have been forced in many cases to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa to avoid passing near Yemen.
Last month, the Houthis’ so-called “defense minister,” Mohamed al-Atifi, said that the Yemeni rebels were prepared for a “long war” against Israel and its allies.
“The Yemeni Army holds the key to victory, and is prepared for a long war of attrition against the usurping Zionist regime, its sponsors, and allies,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian state-owned media
“Our struggle against the Nazi Zionist entity is deeply rooted in our beliefs. We are well aware of the fact that this campaign is a sacred and religious duty that requires tremendous sacrifices,” added Atifi, who has been sanctioned by the US government.
Beyond Israeli targets, the Houthis have threatened and in some cases actually attacked US and British ships, leading the two Western allies to launch retaliatory strikes multiple times against Houthi targets in Yemen.
For over a year, the Houthis have “recklessly and unlawfully attacked US and international vessels transiting the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden,” Austin said in his statement. “The Houthis’ illegal attacks continue to disrupt the free flow of international commerce, threaten environmental catastrophe, and put innocent civilian lives and US and partner forces’ lives at risk.”
Austin said he authorized the strikes “to further degrade the Houthis’ capability to continue their destabilizing behavior and to protect and defend US forces and personnel in one of the world’s most critical waterways.” The American defense chief added that the US “will continue to make clear to the Houthis that there will be consequences for their illegal and reckless attacks.”
Another top US official also called out the Houthis last week.
Samantha Power, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development, lambasted the terrorist group for holding around 20 Yemeni employees of the US embassy in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, for the past three years. The embassy suspended operations in 2014.
“It’s been 3 years since the Houthis unlawfully detained US government local staff,” Power posted on X/Twitter on Saturday. “Several of our Yemeni colleagues may now face prosecution on false charges. We fear for their safety—& will not rest until these individuals & all detained UN, NGO & diplomatic staff are released.”
