The US media is using this sort of language to manufacture consent for yet another war in the middle east. Is this group the de facto government of Yemen? No, they’re just “Houthi rebels”, so we’re doing Yemenis a favor by getting rid of them. Is it a reasonable military tactic to fire on the warship of a hostile foreign power that’s been bombing the shit out of you? No, it’s an “escalation”! How dare these rebels strike first, we didn’t do anything to them!