At least 5 killed in U.S.-led strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, say Houthi officials

The United States and Britain carried out deadly strikes from the air and sea against Houthi military targets in Yemen overnight in response to the movement’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea, a regional widening of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

A Houthi military spokesperson said 73 strikes had killed five of the group’s fighters and wounded six others.

The Houthis, an armed movement that took control of most of Yemen over the past decade, have been targeting vessels in the southern Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandab Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea — one of the world’s busiest trade lanes — since the outbreak of Israel’s war against Hamas in October. The action is in support of Hamas, they say.

Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Houthis’ chief negotiator and spokesperson, described the U.S. and Britain as having “committed foolishness with this treacherous aggression.”

“They were wrong if they thought that they would deter Yemen from supporting Palestine and Gaza,” he wrote online. Houthi “targeting will continue to affect Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine,” he wrote.

Since the attacks began in November, however, the Houthis have begun targeting vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel.

Witnesses in Yemen confirmed explosions throughout the country, saying raids targeted a military base adjacent to Sanaa airport, a military site near Taiz airport, a Houthi naval base in Hodeidah and military sites in Hajjah governorate.

“We saw a large fire from where the attack took place. It was half an hour of terror,” said Kheloud, a Sanaa resident who awoke to loud explosions from the direction of the airport to the north.

Multinational operation

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is in hospital due to surgery complications, said in a statement that the strikes targeted Houthi drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, costal radar and air surveillance.

“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters while visiting Ukraine on Friday that he believed the strikes will degrade the capability of the Iran-backed group.

“We’ve carried out a series of strikes together with allies, which will, we believe, degrade and disrupt the…