U.S. strikes Houthi targets in Yemen after American warships attacked, CENTCOM says

The United States military said Tuesday its forces had “conducted multiple precision strikes” that hit Houthi targets in Yemen’s capital.

The targets had been used by the Iran-backed rebels used to attack American warships and commercial vessels, U.S. Central Command said in a news release. The attacks began on Monday and continued on Tuesday. A video shared by the command shows planes taking off and rockets being launched from a ship. 

The targets included a Houthi command and control facility and advanced conventional weapon production and storage facilities. The facilities held missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles used in Houthi operations, CENTCOM said. U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aircraft also destroyed a Houthi coastal radar site and seven cruise missiles and unmanned aerial drones, CENTCOM said.

One witness in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa reported several strikes in different locations. Another reported raids on Sanaa on the Defense Ministry and having heard a powerful explosion. 

The command said there were no injuries or damage to U.S. personnel or equipment. 

The strikes are a part of CENTCOM’s effort to degrade Iran-backed Houthi efforts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region.

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam called the strikes “an American aggression” and “a blatant violation of the sovereignty of an independent state and a blatant support for Israel.”

The rebels said earlier Tuesday that they had fired two missiles at Israel, hours after the Israeli military said it had intercepted a projectile launched from the country. Earlier in December, a rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv, leaving over a dozen people injured by shattered glass, according to the Israeli military. That came after days of Israeli airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels. 

The Houthis control much of war-torn Yemen and have been firing missiles and drones at Israel, and at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.