DUBAI: A leader of Ansar Allah movement on Sunday dismissed US sanctions on military officials and threatened possible expanded attacks on "aggressor countries" after Washington urged the group to engage seriously in peace efforts.
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Ansar Allah military officials leading an offensive to seize Yemen's Marib region as the US special envoy on Yemen called for de-escalation and pressed for a ceasefire deal.
The Ansar Allah have been battling a military coalition for more than six years in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.
"Sanctions do not scare the fighters, Mohammed Ali al Houthi, head of the group's supreme revolutionary committee, said in a Twitter post. "If they continue the blockade and aggression, then perhaps there will be strikes on unexpected sites in some aggressor countries."
The movement has kept up cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and its offensive in Yemen's gas-rich Marib after Riyadh in March proposed a nationwide ceasefire deal that includes reopening air and sea links to Ansar Allah-held areas.
But the Ansar Allah have insisted restrictions be lifted on Hodeidah port, the main entry of Yemen's commercial and aid imports, and Sanaa airport before any truce talks.
The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Ansar Allah ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa, in a conflict widely seen as a proxy war.
US envoy Tim Lenderking on Thursday also urged the coalition to remove restrictions on all Yemeni ports and airports to ease what the United Nations says is the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile, the United States government sanctioned two senior Ansar Allah leaders last week.
Muhammad Abd Al Karim al Ghamari was designated for his role in orchestrating attacks that injured civilians, most recently in Marib province.
The offensive led by Al Ghamari in Marib "compounds human suffering," the Treasury said.
Commander Yusuf al Madani is being designated on the basis that he poses a risk of committing acts of terrorism, the Treasury said.
The US sanctions freeze possible assets the Ansar Allah leaders may have in the country and mean US companies and people are not allowed to do business with them. In practice it will also make international financial transactions more difficult for them. - Reuters
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