DUBAI, January 13. /TASS/. The Yemeni rebel group Ansar Allah regards US military facilities in the region as its legitimate targets, said Nasreddin Amer, the deputy head of the group’s media relations office.

"The presence of the Americans in the region is illegitimate, so we consider US military facilities to be our legitimate targets," the spokesman told Al Jazeera.

Amer said the recent US and UK strikes on Yemen will be followed by a "swift response." He said the group, also known as the Houthis, will attack US warships in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, where their presence "is no longer a normal state of affairs."

Overnight into January 12, US and UK aircraft, naval ships and submarines struck Houthis sites in some Yemeni cities. US President Joe Biden said the strikes were defensive and represented a response to Houthis attacks in the Red Sea. The targets included the Houthis sites for launching missiles and drones, along with locations of radar stations.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Yemen-based Houthis said they would strike Israeli territory and prevent ships affiliated with that country from passing through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait until the operation in the Palestinian enclave ended.