What is the hope of Israel

The Houthi militias swept down from the mountains in the North taking the country's capital of Sanaa in 2014. Despite extensive intervention from a Saudi backed coalition the Houthis still control huge swathes of Yemen

As the Israeli-Hamas conflict escalates and US aircraft carriers are moved into the region, a hugely powerful rebel group has threatened to attack the US if it intervenes.

In a televised address, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi declared: "If the Americans directly intervene, we are prepared to partake in missile strikes, drone attacks, and other military actions." He added: "We are in full coordination with the axis of jihad and resistance to provide everything we can to support to the Palestinian people."

Despite this he slammed the Hamas attack saying: "The operation disrupted the existing equilibrium and inflicted significant losses on the arrogant, criminal, aggressive, and oppressive Zionist enemy."

Yemen’s devastating war began when Houthi militias descended from their strongholds in northern Yemen and seized the capital of Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee to the south then into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia entered the war in 2015, heading a military collation with the United Arab Emirates and other Arab nations. The coalition, which was supported by the United States, carried out a destructive bombardment campaign and backs government forces and militias in the south. The conflict became a proxy war between regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran who are constantly at each others' throats

Iran have been accused of supporting Houthis with weaponry and financial aid. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi is the military, spiritual, and political leader of the Houthis in Yemen.

Neither side has made territorial gains for years. The Houthis maintain their grip over the north, Sanaa, and much of the heavily populated west. The government and militias hold the south and east, including the key central areas with most of Yemen’s oil reserves.

The war has bled beyond Yemen’s borders, with the Houthis attacking Saudi Arabia and the UAE with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones. In November 4 2017 a ballistic missile was fired at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack but Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir called the attack an act of war by Iran.

“It was an Iranian missile, launched by Hezbollah, from territory occupied by the Houthis in Yemen,” he said. US President Donald Trump also accused Iran saying: “A shot was just taken by Iran, in my opinion, at Saudi Arabia…and our system knocked the missile out of the air." The rebels have also attacked vessels in the Red Sea in a show of force.

They used weapons from the stockpiles they seized in Sanaa and weapons supplied by Iran, according to independent and U.N. experts and Western nations.

Nowadays the Houthi forces are barely recognisable to the ragtag militias they started out as. They operate as a proto-state out of the former capital of Sanaa, armed with a huge array of weapons including cruise and ballistic missiles.