Yemeni rebel leader lashes out at US, blames it for war

CAIRO – The leader of Yemen’s Shiite rebels has lashed out at the United States, accusing it of fomenting the war in his country through a Saudi-led coalition and even going so far as to claim that U.S.-ally Israel is participating in attacks in Yemen.

Abdel-Malek al-Houthi’s remarks were published Friday in a front-page interview with the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, along with a photo of him dressed in a traditional Yemeni robe with a dagger worn on a belt.

Al-Houthi alleges the U.S. saw the war in Yemen “as a golden opportunity to seek control” of the region.

He says Saud Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — two top nations in the coalition against his rebels, known as Houthis — wouldn’t have “entered the war … without American desire and supervision.”