The United States and the United Kingdom said Saturday they had bombed dozens of targets in Yemen in response to repeated attacks on ships by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
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These joint airstrikes in Yemen come a day after a series of US strikes against elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian armed groups in Syria and Iraq in response to the deaths of three US soldiers in Jordan on January 28.
Saturday's attacks targeted “36 Houthi targets in 13 locations in Yemen in response to ongoing Houthi attacks on international and commercial maritime traffic and warships transiting the Red Sea,” a joint U.S.-U.K. statement said Kingdom and other countries that supported the operation.
“These precision strikes are designed to disrupt and weaken the capabilities the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent seafarers,” the statement said.
The attack targeted “the Houthis’ deeply buried arsenals, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems and radars,” the document continued.
Earlier on Saturday, the United States announced that it had carried out strikes in Yemen against six Houthi anti-ship missiles that were “ready to launch against ships in the Red Sea.”
On Friday, the US military also destroyed eight drones off the coast of Yemen and four on the ground to protect “freedom of navigation” from Houthi attacks.
The Houthis began targeting maritime traffic in the Red Sea in November, saying they would attack ships linked to Israel in “solidarity” with Palestinians in Gaza, reeling from the war between Israel and Hamas were devastated.
U.S. and British forces responded with raids against the Houthis, who have since also designated American and British interests as legitimate targets.
In addition to attacks against the Houthis, the United States has created a multinational naval force to protect maritime traffic in the region, which accounts for about 12% of global traffic.
Anger over Israel's devastating campaign in Gaza, which began after an unprecedented deadly Hamas attack on October 7, continues to grow across the Middle East, leading to a rise in violence in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Last weekend, a drone struck a base in Jordan, killing three American soldiers and wounding more than 40. The attack was attributed by Washington to pro-Iranian groups.
The United States responded on Friday with retaliatory strikes against elite Iranian forces and pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq and Syria, but did not attack Iranian territory.