The US and UK bombed over a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen, while the Yemeni rebel group simultaneously stepped up its attacks on ships in the Red Sea to protest Israel’s war on Gaza.
The US and Britain said in a joint statement on Saturday that their military action targeted 18 Houthi facilities in eight locations in Yemen and included attacks on underground weapons and missile depots, air defence systems, radars and a helicopter.
The operation became the fourth joint US-UK military attack against the Houthis since 12 January. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the latest wave of strikes were intended “to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia.”
In any case, the US attacks have so far failed to stop the Houthi attacks, which have disrupted world trade and raised shipping prices.
Yahya Saree, a spokesman for the group, pledged that the rebels would “confront the American-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arab Seas.” He underscores that the Houthis will “persist in upholding their religious, moral and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people, and their military operations will not stop unless the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted.”
Since 19 November, the Houthis have carried out at least 57 attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, according to AP News. The attacks have increased in frequency recently. First was the British-registered cargo ship Rubymar, which was hit on 18 February carrying 41,000 tonnes of fertiliser. Also, the attack on the MV Torm Thor, a US-flagged chemical tanker.
The Israel-Hamas conflict has also affected other regions of the Middle East and has caused the deaths of some 30,000 people, most of them women and children. Over 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes.
