A former British soldier warned of the growing power of the Houthis after the recent defeats faced by the state of Iran.

The Sun newspaper quoted Colonel Richard Kemp as saying that the Houthis now represent a major threat after the killing of the leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

Kemp said that the Houthis were not significantly harmed by the attacks on Washington and London, and it is necessary to deal with the possibility of them becoming a major terrorist threat in the future with caution.

The British military confirmed that the strikes on the Houthis were symbolic, which makes it necessary to deal with them more forcefully.

This comes as an American newspaper accused the Arab regimes of continuing to reject American pressure to condemn Houthi attacks on shipping.

The Washington Post said that Arab leaders are resisting pressure from Washington to condemn the Houthis for fear of being seen as supporters of Israel.

The newspaper explained that the American envoy to Yemen, Lenderking, made appeals to the Egyptians, Saudis and others, but the result was that they were hesitant to clearly condemn the Houthi attacks.

The newspaper indicated that Lenderking said in a recent interview about the Houthis, the Iranian-backed armed group that is launching an attack against the United States, Israel and commercial ships crossing the Red Sea, “I told them all that they need to do more.”

According to the report, the group has not retreated from its attacks despite the efforts of the US-led coalition to repel them and secure vital shipping routes, and they have also been emboldened by their growing popularity among other Muslims whose anger over the Gaza crisis has run deep.

Officials and experts say there is strong appeal to the idea that this unrecognized government is challenging the Jewish state.

Lenderking claims that the Houthis are not helping the Palestinians and that they pose a great danger to Yemen, a poor country whose population has suffered greatly amid years of war