05-02-2024
SANA’A/ WASHINGTON/ LONDON: The Houthi group in Yemen has again vowed that its attacks aimed at stopping Israel’s war on Gaza will not stop after the United States and the United Kingdom launched dozens of strikes overnight on Saturday.
The latest strikes, backed by six other allies, come a day after the US launched dozens of strikes targeting armed groups in Iraq and Syria that Washington said were backed by Iran.
The Houthis initially attacked only Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians, but expanded their attacks to include British and US ships after Washington and London launched strikes in Yemen.
Let’s take a look at which Houthi targets were attacked, what kind of weaponry was used, and how everyone has reacted to it.
Which Houthi targets were attacked?
The US and UK launched a barrage of strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Saturday, February 3. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit a Houthi airship missile in the Red Sea on Sunday in a separate attack.
The US and UK said they targeted 36 Houthi positions in Yemen, while Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the capital, Sanaa, was among the places attacked in Saturday’s strikes. So far there have been no reports of casualties.
The targets included underground storage facilities, command and control centres, missile systems, drone storage and operations sites, radars, and helicopters, according to CENTCOM.
The US military said it hit 36 Houthi targets in 13 locations, but as with many previous strikes on Yemen since the start of the war on Gaza, it refrained from disclosing further details. This was the third large joint operation against the Houthis in two weeks.
The US had also announced strikes on several anti-ship cruise missiles that it said posed a threat to its military vessels and commercial ships travelling through waters near Yemen.
The military of the Yemeni group, also known as Ansarallah, said it was targeted by 48 attacks on multiple governorates, including 13 on Sanaa and surrounding areas, 11 on Taiz, nine on Hodeidah, seven on al-Bayda, seven on Hajjah, and one on Saada. It reported no casualties.
The Houthi targets were struck by both fighter jets and military ships of the US military, and fighter aircraft from the British air force.
F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier, British Typhoon FGR4 fighter aircraft, and US Navy destroyers USS Gravely and USS Carney participated in the strikes, according to US officials and UK Defence Ministry authorities cited by the Associated Press. The US ships fired Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea, it said. (Int’l News Desk)