The Iranian-backed Houthis have threatened to attack any nation in the region that allows its bases to be used by the U.S.-led campaign against it. The group also claimed that a U.S. Navy Tomahawk missile attack on one of its radar sites early Saturday morning local time caused little damage.
“This new strike will have a firm, strong and effective response,” Nasruldeen Amer, a Houthi spokesperson, told Al Jazeera, adding there had been no injuries nor “material damages.”
The group said it has developed a “target list” for retaliatory strikes. The U.S. has troops at muliple bases around the region, including airbases in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the headquarters of the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, and bases in Iraq, Kuwait and Syria. But, as we’ve previously noted, sprawling Camp Lemonnier, located in Djibouti, sits just 80 miles across the Bab al-Mandab Strait from Yemen. The base has been used for U.S. operations in Yemen for years, as well as a key facility for America’s support of the Saudi-led Arab coalition against the Houthis.
“We affirm to everyone that the field is open and there’s no limit, even if it extends to vital points and American bases in other countries, whether strategic, military or etc.” Houthi political bureau official Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti said in an interview with the Hezbollah-linked Al Mayadeen TV outlet. “Certainly, we have a list of targets and that depends on the escalation by America and also depends on the stances of countries and whether they allow or forbid their bases from being used. There is no elaboration on this for now.”
