The US and UK struck 30 Houthi targets to further weaken Iranian-backed groups that have attacked US and international interests in response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The strikes against the Houthis followed an air attack in Iraq and Syria on Friday targeting other Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for a drone strike in the Jordan River that killed three US service members.
The Pentagon said the strikes targeted sites linked to deeply buried weapons depots, missile systems and launchers, air defence equipment, radars and Houthi helicopters. The British military said it struck a ground control station west of the Yemeni capital Sana’a that was used to control Houthi drones attacking ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthi targets were in 13 different locations and were struck by US F/A-18 fighters from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower, British Typhoon FGR4 fighters and destroyers USS Gravely and USS Carney firing Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea, according to US and UK defence officials.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said the military action, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, “sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels.”
Saturday’s strikes marked the third time the US and Britain have conducted a joint large-scale operation to target Houthi launchers, radar sites and drones.
Despite the military escalation, the Houthis have been conducting almost daily missile and drone strikes against commercial and military vessels travelling through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The Houthis are also sending a clear signal that they intend to continue their actions even under pressure from the US and British campaigns.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi official, said “military operations against Israel will continue until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped and the siege on its residents is lifted, no matter the sacrifices it costs us.” He wrote online that the “American-British aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered, and we will meet escalation with escalation.”
The Biden administration has stated this likely will not be the last strike. The US has blamed the attack on Jordan on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of militias backed by Iran. Iran has tried to distance itself from the drone strike, saying the militias acted independently of its instructions.
Hussein al-Mosawi, spokesperson for Harakat al-Nujaba, said Washington “must understand that every action elicits a reaction.”
