Dubai: A series of airstrikes by the United States and British targeting the Yemen-based Houthis have killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others, according to the Iran-backed group on Friday, the highest publicly acknowledged death toll by the rebels from the multiple rounds of strikes carried out over their attacks on shipping. The strikes targeted a radio building in Hodeidah's Al-Hawk district and port of Salif.
The US and British militaries said they launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday as part of efforts to deter the militant group from further disrupting shipping in the Red Sea, which has going on since a month after the Israel-Hamas war broke out. The Houthi rebels say their act of disrupting global commerce was aimed at showing solidarity with the Palestinians.
The US Central Command said in a statement that the American and British forces had hit 13 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The British defence ministry said the joint operation targeted three locations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, which it said housed drones and surface-to-air weapons. The strikes reportedly struck a range of underground facilities, missile launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi vessel and other facilities.
Houthis decry 'brutal aggression'
Houthi spokesperson Mohamed Abdelsalam said the strikes constituted a "brutal aggression" against Yemen as "punishment" for its position in support of Gaza. Additionally, Houthi-allied Iran condemned the strikes as "violations of Yemen's sovereignty and territorial integrity..., international laws and human rights".
The US FA-18 fighter jets involved in the strikes launched from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, officials said. Other US warships in the region also participated. The Houthis described all those killed and hurt in Hodeida as civilians, although it remains to be confirmed. “The strikes were taken in self-defence in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “There's an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose.”
The Houthis have stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. The group has launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, killed three sailors, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration.
Is Houthi retaliating to the US-UK strikes?
The Houthis have launched a missile attack on the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Red Sea in response to US and British strikes on Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Friday.
On Wednesday, another US MQ-9 Reaper drone apparently crashed in Yemen, and the Houthis claimed they fired a surface-to-air missile at it. The US Air Force didn't report any aircraft missing, leading to suspicion that the drone may have been piloted by the CIA. As many as three may have been lost in May alone.
Prior to that, the Houthis on Tuesday launched attacks on six ships in three different seas, the Iran-backed group said on Wednesday, including the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Laax which was damaged after reporting a missile strike off the Yemeni coast. Tuesday's Houthi attacks came as Israeli tanks moved into the heart of Rafah for the first time - despite an order from the International Court of Justice to end its attacks on the city, where many Palestinians had taken refuge from bombardment elsewhere.
(with inputs from agencies)
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