Sanaa (South24 Center)

On Sunday (March 16), top Houthi leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, announced that his group has begun targeting US aircraft carriers and warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and imposing a maritime ban on US navigation, in retaliation to the US strikes in Houthi areas that have killed 53 people.

In a speech broadcast by Al-Masirah TV, al-Houthi stated: “The US aircraft carrier and warships will be our targets, and the navigation ban will include the Americans as long as their aggression against us continues.”

The Houthi announcement came in the wake of a series of US strikes using fighter jets and warships over the past 24 hours, targeting Houthi-controlled sites in Sanaa, Saada, Dhamar, Al-Bayda, and Hajjah in northern Yemen.

In his address, al-Houthi threatened that “if the US aggression against our country continues, we will proceed with additional escalatory options.”

On Saturday, the Trump administration launched nearly 47 airstrikes on Houthi sites in Yemen. The US Central Command said it has “initiated an operation consisting of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen in order to restore freedom of navigation”.

According to the Houthi-run Health Ministry, the strikes resulted in 53 deaths and 101 injuries, with the Houthis claiming that most of the casualties were women and children in Sanaa, Saada, and Al-Bayda.

In the first military response to the US strikes, the Houthis announced a military operation targeting the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and its accompanying warships in the northern Red Sea, using 18 ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones.

Yahya Sarea, the Houthi military spokesperson, stated that the operation was in response to “US aggression”, adding that the group would not hesitate to expand the scope of attacks against US forces in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea.

In a post on Truth Social website on Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced that he has ordered the US Military to launch “decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen”. He also issued a strongly worded threat to the Houthis, saying: “Hell will rain down on you like never before!” unless they stop their attacks on maritime vessels.

He added that the US would use “overwhelming lethal force” until its objectives are achieved. He also issued a direct warning to Iran, asking it to immediately cease its support for the Houthis, or else Tehran would be held “fully accountable” and “we won’t be nice about it!”

In remarks reported by ABC News, US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz said the attacks on Saturday “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out” and vowed further strikes against the Iran-backed militia.

Separately, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday told Fox News that the US' large-scale strikes against Houthi targets will be "unrelenting" until the Iran-backed proxies pledge to back off US assets.

"The minute the Houthis say 'we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones,' this campaign will end, but until then, it will be unrelenting," Hegseth said.

For his part, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami, denied that Tehran is involved in the Houthis’ military decisions but threatened a “devastating” response if the US directly targets Iran.

Similarly, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that the US “has no right to dictate Iran’s foreign policy.”

On the international front, Moscow called for an immediate end to US military strikes on Yemen, stressing the need for “a political settlement to prevent further escalation,” according to remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio.