Largest US-led strikes against Houthis since January 12

Yesterday, the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) launched the largest wave of strikes against sites linked to the Yemeni Houthi militia since January 12, when strikes began in response to the Iranian-backed militia’s naval assaults.

In a statement on X, US Central Command said that alongside UK forces, it had struck 36 Houthi targets in 16 different locations, in territories controlled by the group recently designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

Central Command said the strikes were carried out with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and targeted “multiple underground storage facilities, command and control, missile systems, UAV storage and operations sites, radars, and helicopters”.

The military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Sarea, said in a statement on X that the US and UK had carried out 48 airstrikes, 13 of which were in Sanaa Governorate, nine in Hodeidah, 11 in Taiz, seven in Al-Bayda, seven in Hajjah, and one in the Houthi main stronghold Saada. 

The strikes came in response to an increase in Houthi military attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and attempts by the Houthis to target US Navy forces with several missile and drone attacks over the past few days.

Saturday’s strikes in Yemen followed a wave of US strikes in Iraq and Syria on Friday, which targeted sites of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and other militias loyal to Iran, according to US Central Command. 

The waves of assaults on Yemen, Syria, and Iraq are part of the US military’s coordinated response to last Sunday’s drone attack on US forces in Jordan by a militant group with alleged ties to Iran, which resulted in the deaths of three US troops and injuries to 34 others.