The United States carried out a fresh strike on Saturday on a Houthi rebel target in Yemen, US Central Command has said, after the Iran-backed fighters warned of further attacks on ships in the Red Sea, AFP reports.

The strike on a Houthi radar site comes a day after scores of attacks across the country heightened fears that Israel’s war with Hamas could engulf the wider region.

The Iran-backed fighters’ official media earlier said the Al-Dailami airbase in Yemen’s rebel-held capital of Sanaa had been struck.

The Houthis, who have carried out weeks of attacks on Israel-linked shipping in protest of the Israel-Hamas war, warned that US and British interests were “legitimate targets” after the first volley of strikes.

Hussein al-Ezzi, the rebels’ deputy foreign minister, said the United States and Britain would “have to prepare to pay a heavy price”.