Joint Military Action by US and UK Targets Yemen’s Houthi Forces

Washington, The Gulf Observer: The United States and the United Kingdom conducted a significant military operation targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, deploying warship-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets to strike over a dozen identified sites. This coordinated effort, as reported by US officials, represents a robust response aimed at disrupting key facilities utilized by the Houthi insurgents in Yemen.

The military targets included logistical hubs, air defence systems and weapons storage locations, they said early on Friday. Rebel officials said they targeted American and British warships in the Red Sea in reaction to the strikes.

The strikes marked the first US military response against the Houthis for what has been a persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships since the start of Israel’s war on besieged Gaza.

US President Joe Biden said the strikes in Yemen show that the US and its allies “will not tolerate” Houthi attacks on shipping.

These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea‚ including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history, Biden said in a statement.

“Today’s strikes targeted sites associated with the Huthis’ unmanned aerial vehicle, ballistic and cruise missile, and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities,” Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

Houthi leader Ali al Qahoum said they are targeting American and British warships in the Red Sea in reaction to the strikes on Yemen.

“The Yemeni armed forces are responding forcefully to the American and British warships in the Red Sea, sparking a fierce war in the Red Sea and targeting American and British military sites and bases … and what is coming is greater.”

“American-Zionist-British aggression against Yemen launches several raids on the capital, Sanaa, Hudaida governorate, Saada, and Dhamar,” another Houthi official Abdul Qader al Mortada said on X.

“Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British ships, submarines, and warplanes,” the Houthis’ Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein al Ezzi said, according to rebel media.

“America and Britain will have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression,” he was quoted as saying.

A senior administration official said that while the US expects the strikes will degrade the Houthi’s capabilities, “we would not be surprised to see some sort of response,” although they haven’t seen anything yet.

The Associated Press journalists in Sanaa heard four explosions but saw no sign of warplanes.

Two residents of Hudaida, Amin Ali Saleh and Hani Ahmed, said they heard five strong explosions. Hudaida lies on the Red Sea and is the largest port city governed by the Houthis.

Explosions also were heard by residents of Taiz, a southwestern city near the Red Sea.

Al Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, described strikes hitting the Al Dailami Air Base north of Sanaa, the airport in the port city of the Hudaida, a camp east of Saada, the airport in the city of Taiz and an airport near Hajjah.