The tension continues to mount. US and British interests have become "legitimate targets" for the Houthis after US and UK strikes in Yemen, the Iranian-backed rebels said on Friday (January 12th).

"All U.S.-British interests have become legitimate targets for the Yemeni armed forces after the direct and declared aggression against the Republic of Yemen," the Houthi Supreme Political Council said.

"The Americans and the British must not believe that they will escape the punishment of our heroic armed forces," the rebels' top brass said in a statement carried by their state media.

"The joy of the aggressors will not be long, and our hand will have the upper hand, God willing," the Houthi Supreme Council said.

The U.S. and U.K. bombed the Houthis in Yemen early Friday in response to the Houthis' attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The strikes, targeting radars, as well as drone and missile storage and launch capabilities, are fueling fears of regional escalation.

The strikes, which killed five people, followed weeks of attacks by the Houthis on ships they say are linked to Israel in the Red Sea, to protest the bombing in the Gaza Strip where the Jewish state says it wants to annihilate the Palestinian Hamas, responsible for an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory.

U.S. 'not seeking conflict with Iran'

On Friday, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in the Yemeni capital Sanaa to condemn the strikes.

"Your strikes on Yemen are terrorism," said Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Houthis' Supreme Political Council, adding: "The United States is the devil."

"Death to America, death to Israel," chanted the demonstrators, supporters of the rebels who control the capital Sanaa and parts of Yemen.

Some brandished AK-47 assault rifles, according to an AFP correspondent.

Later, the White House claimed that while striking the Houthis, the U.S. "is not seeking conflict with Iran."

"We are not looking for conflict with Iran. We're not looking for an escalation and there's no reason for there to be an escalation beyond what has happened in the last few days," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on MSNBC.

However, he assured, on CNN this time, that there was "no doubt" about Iranian support for the Yemeni rebels.

"The Houthis pull the trigger but it is the Iranians who provide the gun," he said.

"Everything we are doing, in consultation with our allies and partners, is aimed at preventing (the conflict between Israel and Hamas) from spreading and turning into a wider conflict," he said.

With AFP

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