Yemen's Houthi rebels accused Wednesday their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, of being a traitor.
"Saleh's description of the (Houthi) Revolutionary Committee as militia was a stab in the back," the revolutionary committee said in a statement.
"What he (Saleh) said transgressed the red line," it added.
The committee represents the Houthi military and its elite fighters, who have been locked in deadly battles against a Saudi-led military coalition and Yemen's internationally-recognized government forces for more than two years.
"We will take action," the committee said, describing Saleh as "evil."
In a speech on Sunday, Saleh strongly criticized Houthi fighters as "illegal militia," and accused them of corruption.
The former president said the Houthis have been meddling in the shared government between them and his party, the General People's Congress (GPC).
He also accused Houthis of looting state resources and salaries.
"Where are the salaries of the state employees for 10 months? where are the salaries of the army and security services?" Saleh told his party's supporters at a large gathering.
The war of words came after Houthis tried to prevent Saleh and his GPC party from summoning millions of supporters from across the country to attend the celebration scheduled for Aug. 24 to mark the 35th anniversary of the party's establishment.
Houthis considered Saleh's determination to hold the celebration an "attempt of coup," saying he tried to exploit "the growing increasingly discontent among the people from the worsening economic crisis against them."
Saleh fought six wars against the Houthi group during his presidency from 2002 to 2009. Saleh's troops killed the brother of Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in these wars backed by Saudi Arabia.
In 2011, Saleh allied with Houthis to resist Muslim Brotherhoods which eventually ousted him in 2012.
Their suspicious alliance continued when Houthi fighters stormed the capital Sanaa and seized control of it in September 2014.
The internal strife, however, started to emerge after Houthis stripped Saleh and his party of resources and salaries.
Meanwhile, Houthis accused Saleh of striking a secret deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to launch a military coup against Houthis, in return for the release of Saleh's son Ahmed Ali, and UAE's support for Saleh to take power once Houthis are defeated, which Saleh's party denied in a Monday statement on the GPC website.
In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict to back the internationally recognized government of President Hadi against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war, with 3 million displaced and million others suffering from hunger.
The war-torn Yemen is also suffering the world's largest cholera epidemic, with suspected cases having reached half a million and some 2,000 killed.

source: Xinhua