(Washington) American and British forces carried out new bombings in Yemen overnight from Monday to Tuesday against the Houthi rebels who still say they are “determined” to continue their attacks in the Red Sea, in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.
“Today’s strikes specifically targeted a Houthi underground storage site and Houthi missile and aerial surveillance sites,” the US and British armed forces said in a joint statement.
Washington and London indicated that they had targeted eight Houthi targets, according to this press release also signed by Canada, Australia, Bahrain and the Netherlands, which “supported” the operation without participating directly.
For their second joint operation since the beginning of January, the American and British armies carried out strikes to “weaken the arsenal that the Houthis use to endanger global trade and the lives of innocent sailors”.
“Our goal is always to reduce tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea,” add these governments, warning nevertheless: “We will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of trade in any of the passages the most important navigable waterways in the world.
The British Ministry of Defense said in a separate statement that four Typhoon fighter jets took part in the strikes aimed at “undermining” the military capabilities of the Houthis, a movement supported by Iran.
The targets include “missile and launcher systems, air defense systems, radars and deeply buried weapons storage facilities,” the US Middle East Military Command (Centcom) said on X.
According to the Houthi news agency, Saba, the American-British forces targeted the capital Sanaa and several provinces of the country. And according to the Houthi channel, Al-Masirah, strikes targeted the Al-Dailami military base, located north of Sanaa.
The Houthi rebels control a large part of Yemen, after nearly a decade of war against government forces, supported by Saudi Arabia.
The poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, but located in a strategic area for maritime trade, Yemen was experiencing a relative lull despite one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
” Determination ”
“The US-British aggression will only increase the determination of the Yemeni people to assume their moral and humanitarian responsibilities towards the oppressed of Gaza,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, commented on X.
“Every party or individual in this world is faced with this choice: either preserve their humanity and stand with Yemen, or lose their humanity and stand with the US-UK alliance,” he added. .
The Houthis, who say they support the population of Gaza, totally besieged by Israel and facing a humanitarian catastrophe, claimed responsibility for an attack on an American military ship on Monday.
The Houthis “carried out a military operation targeting the US military cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden” with “the help of missiles”, assured their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree.
Asked by AFP, an official from the American Department of Defense claimed “to have seen nothing of the sort” and described the information as “false”.
Since mid-November, the Houthis have fired numerous missiles and drones against ships they consider linked to Israel.
The United States, a key ally and military supporter of Israel, has set up a coalition to patrol off the coast of Yemen to “protect” international maritime traffic.
According to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), 12% of global trade passes through the Red Sea.
However, due to Houthi attacks, insurance costs have skyrocketed, prompting large shipping carriers to reroute their ships to the southern tip of Africa, making the journey longer and more expensive.
In November, the Houthis also seized the Galaxy Leadera ship owned by a British company, itself owned by an Israeli businessman, and had taken the 25 crew members hostage.
The rebels repeated on Monday that they would continue to “prevent Israeli ships” from crossing the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden until the end of the war in Gaza.