A senior official of Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement says the country’s armed forces are "eager" to engage in a confrontation with the United States in case of escalating tensions in the strategic Red Sea.

The Yemeni defense minister warns trans-regional military forces against securing passage of Israeli-owned and Israel-bound merchant vessels in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

The sanctions come after several US allies officially withdrew their participation from a controversial alliance which Washington seeks to build with the aim of supporting Israel.

Yemen issues the Israeli regime a strong-worded warning, cautioning Tel Aviv against continuing the genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

Even before takeoff, the US-led ten-nation maritime alliance in the Red Sea has broken down with many member states withdrawing from it, unnerved by the Yemeni military operations.

Yemen warns that the Red Sea will become a “flaming battleground” if the US and its allies stick to their “aggressive behavior” and fuel tensions in the strategic maritime route.

Yemen has hogged headlines in recent weeks amid a spate of attacks on Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea, forcing many global shipping firms to halt their sailings in the strategic waterway

Yemen has emerged as a key player in the Axis of Resistance after a string of daring attacks on Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians.

The US-led maritime task force in Red Sea has suffered a major setback as France, Spain and Italy withdraw from the naval coalition.

More shipping firms have decided to avoid the Red Sea although the US has created a naval coalition purportedly aimed to safeguard shipping after Yemen’s retaliatory attacks on Israel-linked vessels.