AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia is ready to make peace with Saudi Arabia, the groups’ deputy foreign minister said on Monday, accusing the US of obstructing efforts to reach a settlement.

Speaking to reporters in Sanaa, Hussein Al-Ezzi expressed “special gratitude” to Saudi Arabia for its unwillingness to join US-UK strikes on Yemen, adding that the militia is “eager” to enter peace negotiations with the Kingdom.

“Sanaa is prepared for peace with Riyadh despite the challenges posed by the US and its associated Yemeni groups,” Al-Ezzi said.

The US and UK have carried out about 300 strikes in Yemen since Jan. 12, the official said, threatening to make the US pay a “heavy price” for the attacks. “America is the one assaulting us, and it will not escape retribution, and we will never remain mute about the aggression against our nation, and it will have no impact on our stance toward Gaza and Palestine.”

Since November, the Houthis have seized a commercial ship and launched dozens of missiles and drones at civilian as well as military vessels in the Red Sea. Al-Ezzi said that the militia, in a show of support to Palestine, only targets Israel-linked ships or vessels on their way to the country.

US and UK military and commercial ships were added to the militia’s list of targets after the two countries launched strikes on Yemen, he added.

The Houthi warning to strike US and UK ships came as Houthi media and Yemenis in the Houthi-controlled western province of Hodeidah reported explosions on Sunday night when jets struck targets in the Ras Isa, Al-Zaydiyah and Al-Hawak districts. On Monday afternoon, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV channel claimed that the US and UK forces conducted attacks on Hodeidah’s Al-Katheeb area.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s internationally recognized government said that UN pressure to end its offensive on Hodeidah city in 2018 had led to the escalating Houthi violence on the Red Sea since last year.

Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani on Sunday blamed the UN and its former Yemen envoy, Martin Griffiths, for pressuring the Yemeni government to abandon its military offensive on the Houthi-controlled port city and sign the UN-brokered Stockholm Agreement.

Government forces controlled Hodeidah’s airport, as well as the city’s southern and eastern entrances, and were only a few kilometers from the city’s port before the UN urged an end to the offensive, he added.

At the time, the UN warned that conflict in Hodeidah would halt the supply of 70 percent of the country’s humanitarian aid and other essential items through the city’s port.

“The entire world is paying the price for ignoring government warnings about the dangers of allowing the Iranian regime and its arms in the region, most notably the Houthi militia, to control the city of Hodeidah and its ports,” Al-Eryani said, according to the SABA news agency.