Yemen's Houthis to target US interests if it supports Saudis, military adviser tells AFP

A Houthi military adviser told AFP that the group would attack US interests in the Middle East if Washington intervened in Yemen's conflict to support its ally Saudi Arabia or secure the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

A lightning offensive by the Iran-backed Houthis this month seized effective control of the narrow shipping lane -- the gateway to the Red Sea and Suez Canal -- and Saudi Arabia has reportedly requested American and international military assistance in countering the group.

Riyadh is the main backer of Yemen's internationally recognised government, and has been carrying out strikes on the group since the country's long-dormant civil war flared back to life in July.

"If America dares to intervene militarily with its fleets or tries to take control of Bab al-Mandab, it is a red line," military adviser Abed Mohammed al-Thawr told AFP in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

Since the renewed fighting began, the Houthis have declared a maritime blockade on Saudi ships in the Red Sea, rattling the world's top oil exporter, which was already hit by Tehran's stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

"If America gambles on supporting Saudi Arabia with airstrikes or air support... we will consider any American interests around us to be targets and we will not exclude anything," Thawr told AFP, adding that they will "close Bab al-Mandab completely to American ships".

So far, the Houthis have insisted that the only threat in the Bab al-Mandab is to Saudi vessels.

The pro-Iran group dislodged Saudi-backed government forces from Yemen's Red Sea coast in fighting that left hundreds of people dead. Houthi drones and missiles have also recently targeted Saudi territory, including the capital Riyadh for the first time in years.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman requested help from US President Donald Trump in fighting the Houthis, but was rebuffed, according to US reports.

Yemen's government also made a similar request, a well-placed source told AFP.

- 'One alliance, one body' -

The Houthis say Saudi Arabia has conducted hundreds of strikes in Yemen since the collapse of a four-year truce in July.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Wednesday that Riyadh had conducted 52 strikes on Yemen in the last 24 hours.

The group's television channel said earlier in the day that Saudi airstrikes had killed 10 people and wounded 14 others in Yemen's Taiz and Al-Jawf governorates over the past 24 hours.

Saudi civil defence authorities, meanwhile, issued alerts Wednesday warning of the risk of attacks in Jazan and Najran near the Yemen border, a region regularly targeted by the Houthis.

Yemen's civil war began after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, with a Saudi-led coalition stepping in the following year to shore up the government.

While it predates the wider Middle East war by years, the renewed fighting in Yemen has pitted allies of Washington and Tehran against each other as the two foes are stalemated in the Gulf.

Thawr denied receiving directives from Iran, but said they are "one alliance and one body".

"Iran is a friendly, allied and brotherly country to us, but it does not direct us. We are independent in our decisions and in our sovereignty," he said.

The United Nations on Tuesday said the number of people displaced in Yemen could swell from over 130,000 today to more than 230,000 in the coming months.