CNN
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The United States and Britain have struck a series of Houthi targets in Yemen, two U.S. officials said, marking the fourth time the United Nations has launched a joint offensive against the Iranian-backed rebels.
The coalition said 18 targets in eight locations were hit in the airstrike, including underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities, unmanned attack systems, air defense systems, radars and helicopters.
The British Ministry of Defense said in a statement late Saturday that four Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets, supported by two Voyager tanker aircraft, took part in the combined attack.
This latest attack comes after the Pentagon acknowledged that the Houthis have recently carried out further attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, some of the world's most important waterways. On Thursday, Sabrina Singh, deputy spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said in recent days “attacks by the Houthis have increased and become more consistent.”
The attacks, which the Houthis say are in solidarity with the Palestinians and amid Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, have caused a significant drop in shipping through the Suez Canal. The route connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, allowing ships to cut shipping routes by thousands of miles instead of detouring around Africa. In the first half of February, the Suez Canal saw a 42% drop in monthly traffic and an 82% drop in container tonnage from its 2023 peak, according to the United Nations.
The coalition said in a statement that the Houthis have carried out more than 45 attacks on commercial and naval vessels in the region since mid-November, calling the attacks a “threat to the global economy” and an international It is said that a similar response is required.
“We know that the Houthis have a large arsenal,” Singh said on Thursday, hours after the Houthis attacked another cargo ship with a ballistic missile in the Gulf of Aden. “They are very capable and have sophisticated weapons, and that's because they continue to get weapons from Iran.”
The attack was one of a series of successful missile launches by the Houthis against commercial vessels in recent days, many of which have hit ships with ties to the United States and Britain.
Houthi rebels confirmed on social media on Sunday local time that they had used missiles to target an American oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Salih did not comment on whether the missile attack hit the M/V Torum Toul tanker, but the U.S. military said at least one missile had earlier been fired into the Gulf of Aden. It was announced that the missile had been shot down successfully. . Salih also said Houthi forces were targeting a number of U.S. warships in the Red Sea with unmanned aerial vehicles.
In another recent example, the M/V Rubimar, a British-flagged Belizean-flagged vessel that was attacked by a Houthi ballistic missile on Monday, was the first of its kind to have its crew evacuated. It seems that it has become a base. U.S. Central Command said Friday that the ship had submerged in the Red Sea, forming an 18-mile oil slick.
The United States seeks to thwart the Houthis' ability to target commercial ships and U.S. warships by attacking key weapons such as anti-ship cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and unidirectional attack drones. The US also destroyed maritime and underwater drones.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced that more than 100 missiles and projectiles, including anti-ship missiles, drones and radars, had been destroyed in sustained attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen that began in January.
But continued airstrikes have done little to stem the tide of Houthi attacks, and some within the regime now argue that force alone is ineffective. And some officials say it would be too expensive and impractical to keep firing multimillion-dollar missiles at the Houthis' cheap drones and missiles.
Part of the challenge lies in figuring out how much weaponry the Houthis have. Officials told CNN that the US does not yet have a “denominator” to assess the proportion of Houthi equipment destroyed, and it is not clear whether the US will further shift its military approach.
“They continue to surprise us,” a senior defense official said of the Houthis. “We don’t really know what they have yet.”
Still, the United States and the United Nations show no signs of backing down, warning the Houthis that their attacks on international shipping will continue if they do not end.
“While our goal remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability to the Red Sea, we once again warn the Houthi leadership that we will continue to protect lives and freedom in the face of continued threats. We will not hesitate to continue to protect trade,” the coalition statement said.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Johnny Hallam, Hande Atay Alam and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the number of attacks carried out against Houthi targets in Yemen.
