US launches airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen

The U.S. bombed more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen in a series of airstrikes on Iranian-backed rebels on Friday. Military aircraft and warships struck the militant strongholds and their weapons systems in five locations days after American warships were attacked in the Red Sea.

The joint operation with the British military is a sign of serious escalation with the Middle East still waiting to see if Israel will retaliate against Iran for the rocket barrage earlier this week. Operations had been limited to shipping channels and targeting military bases. 

Houthi media said seven strikes hit the airport in Hodeida, a major port city, and the Katheib area, which has a Houthi-controlled military base. Four more strikes hit the Seiyana area in Sanaa, the capital, and two strikes hit the Dhamar province.

The Houthi media office also reported three air raids in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa. The rebels fired more than a half dozen ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three U.S. ships that were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, according to several U.S. officials.

Houthi rebels also claimed Monday to have shot down another U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over the country. The Houthis have also launched missiles at Israel. Earlier on Friday, Iran’s supreme leader held a rifle by his side as he addressed worshippers in Tehran in a rare public sermon, days after the missile attack on Israel It was the first sermon from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 80, in nearly five years to faithful at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran today.

It came three days before the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, triggered by the Iran-backed Palestinian group’s October 7 attack. Khamenei said the attack, triggering the war between Israel and Hamas, was both ‘logical and legal’ for Palestinians in the ‘right’.

From the crowds, some ardent supporters outraged by a year of hostilities held portraits of slain allied leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah. Khamenei, addressing his audience mostly in Arabic, used the opportunity to dub Hezbollah’s battle a ‘vital service to the region’, warning Israel ‘will not last long’.

Iranian-backed Houthi militants have been launching repeat attacks on shipping targets in the Red Sea, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza following Israel’s military response to the October 7 attacks. The U.S. has responded with counterstrikes at Houthi weapons stockpiles, and has bolstered naval assets in the region.

In early August, following a Houthi attack on a container ship in the Red Seat, U.S. forces struck at Houthi targets in Yemen, including anti-ship cruise missiles. U.S. CENTCOM said the weapons ‘presented a clear and imminent threat to U.S. and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region.’

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