Supporters of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they attend a rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen’s war, in Sanaa, Yemen, March 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Khaled Abdullah.

JNS.org – Iranian media on Sunday quoted an official at the Foreign Ministry of the Yemeni National Salvation Government as threatening Israel.

The official was referring to Israel’s reported monitoring of the situation in Yemen, where Tehran is backing the Houthi rebels leading a civil war against Saudi-backed forces.

Iran’s state-run Mehr news agency quoted the Yemeni official as warning the “Zionist regime against any reckless action.”

“The Zionist regime seeks excuses for its hostile moves through which [it] tries to cover up its continuous aggression against the Palestinian people and to encourage more countries to normalize their relations with it,” the official reportedly stated, adding, “The Zionist regime should monitor the situation in the areas that have been illegally occupied in the Palestinian Territories and stop threatening the countries of the region by talking about a war.”

The Yemeni official further stressed that the situation in Yemen “has nothing to do with the Zionist regime,” warning that “any stupid action by the regime would lead to a full-scale war and that the Zionist Regime would be the first loser.”

The unnamed official was apparently responding to comments made by Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman, who on Friday told Saudi news site Elaph that the military was monitoring Tehran’s movement in the region as it expects that any Iranian attack on Israel could come from Iraq and Yemen.

In an interview, Zilberman referred to Iraq and Yemen as Iran’s second circle after Lebanon and Syria.

The Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist group is the Islamic republic’s chief proxy in the region, and Tehran is also sparing no effort to increase its grip on Syria, where it has been critical to President Bashar Assad’s political survival.

Zilberman told Elaph that Iran has a wide range of capabilities at its disposal in the area, naming as an example the advanced drone and remote-guided missile bases that it has set up in both countries.