Iran hails Yemen alliance, promises to fight US

The Iranian embassy in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa held a conference on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of the killing of a powerful Iranian general and top Iraqi militia leader in a US drone strike.

Hassan Eyrlou, the Iranian ambassador in Sanaa, said during the conference that strengthening the ties between Iran and Yemen was on the top of the nations' agendas.

The killing of Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and sparked outrage in Iraq, leading parliament to pass a non-binding resolution days later calling for the expulsion of all foreign troops from Iraq.

Soleimani headed the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, responsible for the Islamic Republic's foreign operations and he frequently shuttled between Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.

Al-Muhandis was Iraq's most powerful militia leader who was deputy commander of the PMF.

Their killing dramatically ratcheted up tensions in the region and brought the US and Iran to the brink of war.

Iran hit back by firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops, some of whom suffered concussions.

Iranian officials have suggested that more retaliation is coming.

Yemen was been plunged in a civil war since 2014 after Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran the north and the capital, Sanaa.

The following year, a Saudi-led military coalition supported by the US intervened to wage war on the Houthis and to restore President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's government to power.