The U.S. and the United Kingdom led a coalition of countries in launching a series of strikes against targets of Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saturday in the second day of major operations against Iranian-backed proxies nearly a week after a deadly attack on American troops.
“These strikes are intended to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia to conduct their reckless and destabilizing attacks against U.S. and international vessels lawfully transiting the Red Sea,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in statement. “Coalition forces targeted 13 locations associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars.”
Austin said the U.S. and U.K. were supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
“This collective action 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,” Austin said. “We will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways.”
The Houthi targets were struck by U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and by the USS Gravely and the USS Carney Navy destroyers firing Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea, U.S. officials told The Associated Press. They were not authorized to publicly discuss the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Saturday’s strikes marked the third time the U.S. and Britain had conducted a large joint operation to strike Houthi weapon launchers, radar sites, and drones.
The Houthi-run Yemeni News Agency reported the coalition launched 14 strikes on the provinces of Taiz and Hodeida. A security official told the news agency the coalition targeted Althe-Barah area in Maqbana District and areas in Haifan District with 11 airstrikes. He told the news agency the coalition targeted Jabal Al-Jada in Al-Lahiya District and Al-Salif District in Al-Hodeida province with three airstrikes.
On Friday, the U.S. carried out strikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the groups it backs, reportedly killing nearly 40 people.
Those strikes were retaliation for a drone strike that killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded more than 40 other American service members in Jordan on Jan. 28 by Iranian-backed terrorists.
The Houthis have been targeting commercial ships and U.S. warships with drones and missiles in the Red Sea and crippling global trade, blaming Israel’s war against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. previously carried out more than 10 strikes against Houthi targets in the past several weeks, but they have not proved to be a deterrence.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a news release the strikes began at 4:40 p.m. local time, hours after the USS Carney shot down an unarmed aerial vehicle over the Gulf of Aden.
CENTCOM said U.S. forces identified unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and “determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region. U.S. forces subsequently struck and destroyed the UAVs in self-defense.”
At 9:20 p.m. local time, CENTCOM said the USS Laboon and F/A-18 fighter jets from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group engaged and shot down seven UAVs over the Red Sea. There were no injuries or damage reported.
“These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy vessels and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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