US and UK launch deadly strikes in Yemen: Houthis
Joint British-US air strikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels have killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others, the rebels say.
It is the highest publicly acknowledged death toll by the Houthis from the multiple rounds of strikes carried out over their attacks on shipping.
Three US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the strikes Thursday as hitting a wide range of underground facilities, missile launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi vessel and other facilities.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.They called it a response to a recent surge in attacks by the Iran-backed militia group on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden over the Israel-Hamas war.
The US F/A-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 took part.
But the Houthis focused on Friday on just one of the strikes, which they said struck a building housing Hodeida Radio and civilian homes in the port city on the Red Sea.
Their Al Masirah satellite news channel aired images of one bloodied man being carried down stairs and others in the hospital, receiving aid.
The Houthis described those killed and hurt in Hodeida as civilians, which the Associated Press could not immediately confirm.
The rebel force that has held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014 includes fighters who often are not in uniform.
Other strikes hit outside of Sanaa near its airport and communication equipment in Taiz, the broadcaster said.
Little other information was released on those sites, likely signalling that Houthi military sites had been struck.
“We confirm this brutal aggression against Yemen as punishment for its position in support of Gaza, in support of Israel to continue its crimes of genocide against the wounded, besieged and steadfast Gaza Strip,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam wrote on the social media platform X.
In the United Kingdom, the country’s defence ministry said Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s conducted strikes on both Hodeida and further south in Ghulayfiqah.
“The strikes were taken in self-defence in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.
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 Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, killed three sailors, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration.
