US and British fighter aircraft carried out air strikes on 18 targets linked to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. This is the fourth strike of its kind and according to the BBC, focused on a wide range of targets.
The Pentagon issued a detailed statement on Saturday saying, “Today, the militaries of the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, conducted strikes against military targets in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. Coalition forces targeted eight locations, which included Houthi underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities, one-way attack unmanned aerial systems, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter, to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia to conduct their destabilizing and reckless attacks against U.S. and international vessels lawfully transiting the Red Sea, the Bab AI-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.”
The strike comes after the Houthis sunk a British-owned cargo ship off Yemen on February 18 according to Reuters. The strike caused an oil spillage.
The US State Department also released a message where it stated. “The Houthis are behaving like a terrorist organization – attacking civilians, civilian shipping, and innocent mariners, and they continue to detain the crew of the Galaxy Leader, consisting of 25 people from five different countries. This is piracy… And contrary to what the Houthis may attempt to claim, their attacks do nothing to help the Palestinians. Their actions are not bringing a single morsel of assistance or food to the Palestinian people.”
According to AP the Houthis released a statement post the strike stating. “The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that they will confront the US-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arabian Seas in defense of our country, our people and our nation.”
The Houthis have also claimed their actions have caused more men to join their side. An Al Jazeera report quoted Houthi spokesperson, Nasr al-Din Amer, who oversees the Yemeni news network Saba, as stating that the Houthis have trained more than 200,000 new fighters since the group began its actions in the Red Sea in support of Palestine.
Stating there were “opportunities for peace,” Amer added. “For our part, we do not intend to attack any party other than the Zionist, American and British enemies, because they are attacking us, and we do not have any intentions to target any internal party unless it targets us to serve the Zionists.”
