The U.S. and British teams struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, the latest round of military action against Iranian-linked groups that continue to attack shipping in the region, they said.
The U.S. has launched an almost daily assault on the Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous area, and said their attacks on shipping were in solidarity with the Palestinians as Israel attacked Gaza.
So far, strikes have failed to stop Houthi attacks, which have disrupted the globe** and raised freight rates.
The military operations targeted 18 Houthi targets in eight locations in Yemen, including underground ** and missile storage facilities, air defense systems, radars and one ***, the countries involved in the strike or providing support said in a joint statement
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the attacks were aimed at "further undermining and weakening the capabilities of Iranian-backed Houthi militias."
"We will continue to make it clear to the Houthis that if they don't stop their illegal attacks, they will face the consequences," Austin said. These attacks can damage the Middle East economy, cause environmental damage and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Yemen and other countries. ”
The strike was supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
Al-Masirah TV, the main television news run by the Houthis, said on Saturday that the U.S. and British teams carried out a series of attacks in the capital, Sana'a.
The report quoted an unnamed Houthi military source as saying the renewed attacks were "a tragic attempt to stop Yemen from providing support to the Palestinian people in Gaza."
Earlier this week, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on a British cargo ship and a drone attack on a US destroyer, and targeted the Israeli port and resort city of Eilat with ballistic missiles and drones.
The group's strikes disrupted important shortcuts to the Suez Canal, which accounts for about 12% of global maritime traffic, forcing it to take longer and more expensive routes around Africa.
In the Battle of Houthis, no ships sank and no crew died. However, there were concerns about the fate of the British-registered Rubymar cargo ship, which was rammed on February 18 and the crew was evacuated. The U.S. side said the "Lubmar" was hit with more than 41,000 tons of fertilizer, which could leak into the Red Sea and cause environmental disasters.
The European Union has sent a naval mission to the Red Sea "to restore and guarantee freedom of navigation."
The United States has a parallel coalition, Operation Prosperity Defenders, which aims to protect commercial traffic from Houthi attacks.