A terror group have released a sinister video which showed coffins draped in American flags as they taunted Donald Trump.
Houthi rebels shared the footage in Yemen and recorded an animated video of a flag placed on top of a coffin. The camera then panned to show dozens of them floating in water, close to wrecked Navy ships. In the clip, the vessels could be seen on fire in the water.
Foundation for Defense of Democracies research fellow Hussain Abdul-Hussain, commented on the animation on Twitter and said: “Houthis post animation of US draped caskets floating around destroyed warships. These terrorists really cannot tell the difference between delusions and reality.”
The twisted footage sparked fears among Americans, with concerns that the terror group could ramp up violence against the country. The clip was released after Trump vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the rebels halt their attacks on shipping along the maritime corridor between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The US President earlier said: “To all Houthi terrorists, your time is up, and your attacks must stop, starting today. If they don’t, hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before.” The rebels on Sunday claimed to have targeted the USS Harry S Truman carrier strike group with missiles and a drone, but two US officials said they were not tracking anything.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at Israel in what the rebels said were acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with Hamas – another Iranian ally.
The US and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis and the US Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the militant group, which controls Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the country’s north.
Trump launched the first set of airstrikes of the new administration against the rebels, reportedly causing at least 31 deaths on Saturday. General Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, denied his country is involved in the Houthi attacks. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, urged the US to halt the strikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy, reports Mail Online.
Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, told ABC that the strikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out”. And US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday: “We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.