Red Sea crisis: US, Britain launch second round of strikes in Yemen as Houthis vow to strike back
- The latest raids hit eight Houthi targets, a joint US-UK statement said, while the Houthis listed 18 strikes across their territory
- Hours before the joint operation, the Houthis claimed they fired on a US military cargo ship off the coast of Yemen, which was denied by a US defence official
The United States and Britain launched a second round of joint military strikes on Yemen’s Houthis on Tuesday over their attacks on Red Sea shipping, as the Iran-backed rebels vowed to hit back.
The latest raids, heard by residents of the rebel-held capital Sanaa around midnight, hit eight Houthi targets, a joint US-UK statement said, while the Houthis listed 18 strikes across their territory.
US and British forces carried out a first wave of strikes against the rebel group earlier this month, and the United States launched further air raids against missiles that Washington said posed imminent threats to both civilian and military vessels.
But the Houthis have continued their attacks on shipping – just one part of a growing crisis in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Gaza war, which has raised fears of a broader war directly involving Iran.
The latest US-UK strikes were against “eight Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Houthis’ continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea”, they said in a joint statement with other countries that supported the military action.