(Sanaa) The United States will “continue” its retaliation against pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, said Sunday the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who did not want to say if strikes against Iran were ruled out.
” It is not finished. We intend to carry out additional strikes and take additional steps to continue to send a clear message that the United States will respond when its forces are attacked,” he told NBC. .
The United States and Britain said they bombed dozens of targets in Yemen on Saturday, in response to repeated attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The air raids in Yemen came a day after a series of US strikes against elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian armed groups in Syria and Iraq, in response to the deaths of three US soldiers in Jordan on January 28 .
Speaking on another channel, ABC, the senior US official said the strikes had a “good impact” aimed at depriving these groups of the ability to carry out further attacks against US forces.
In Iraq and Syria, the United States struck a total of 85 targets at seven different sites, including command and intelligence centers and drone and missile storage infrastructure, according to the Pentagon.
Asked about civilian casualties, he said he was not able to confirm but that the targets were “completely legitimate”.
Pressed on whether Washington had ruled out striking Iran directly, Mr. Sullivan responded on NBC: “I’m not going to say here on television in public what is or what is not on the table.”
PHOTO ANNA ROSE LAYDEN, REUTERS ARCHIVES
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
“If they choose to respond directly to the United States, they will receive a rapid and resolute response from us,” he said.
Houthis vow to fight back
Houthi rebels vowed on Sunday to retaliate for US-British strikes against areas under their control in Yemen, carried out in response to attacks by these Iran-backed insurgents on merchant ships in the Red Sea.
This is the third joint US and UK operation against the Houthis in Yemen. American forces have also carried out, alone, strikes against rebel targets in the country at war since 2014.
PHOTO AS1 LEAH JONES, RAF VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
This photo released by the UK Ministry of Defense (MOD) on February 4 shows an RAF Typhoon FGR4 aircraft returning to base after strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
But despite the intensification of American operations, the Houthis continued their attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, saying they targeted ships linked to Israel “in solidarity” with the Palestinians in Gaza, ravaged by the war between Israel and Hamas.
The US-British strikes on Saturday targeted 36 rebel targets “in 13 locations in Yemen in response to continued Houthi attacks on international and commercial maritime traffic as well as warships transiting the Red Sea”, according to a joint statement from the States. -United States, the United Kingdom and other countries which supported the operation.
“Deeply buried arsenals, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems and Houthi radars” were targeted, the text adds.
The Houthis began targeting maritime traffic in the Red Sea in November. And they designated American and British interests as legitimate targets after the strikes by these two countries.
“Climbing by climbing”
The new strikes “will not shake” the “Houthi support for the Palestinian people resisting in Gaza and will not go unanswered and without punishment,” warned Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesperson.
PHOTO KHALED ABDULLAH, REUTERS
Houthis rally near Sanaa, Yemen, February 4
Without mentioning any victims, he reported 48 strikes in six provinces, including thirteen on the capital Sanaa and its surroundings, and nine in the Hodeida region, under Houthi control.
“Either there is peace for us, Palestine and Gaza, or there is no peace and no security for you in our region,” warned a Houthi spokesperson, Nasr al-Din Amer, on Saturday. . “We will respond to escalation with escalation. »
“We were afraid when we heard the strikes” on Saturday evening, testifies Hamed Ghanem, 35, in Sanaa. “We had the hope that the war would end, but now God knows how long” it will last, laments this father of five children.
The poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula devastated by war, Yemen is however experiencing a fragile lull after a truce negotiated by the UN in 2022.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday’s strikes were aimed “at further degrading the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia to carry out its destabilizing attacks.”
Early Sunday, the United States announced it had carried out a new strike against a Houthi anti-ship missile that was “ready to be launched against ships in the Red Sea.”
“Unacceptable”
Sworn enemy of the United States, Iran “strongly condemned” the American-British strikes, which it said were in “contradiction” with their stated wish of “not wanting an extension of the conflict” in the Middle East.
And Hamas denounced “an escalation which will drag the region into more unrest”.
The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented deadly Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
The violence linked to the conflict has spilled beyond their borders.
On January 28, a drone struck a base in Jordan, killing three American soldiers and injuring more than 40, an attack attributed by Washington to pro-Iran groups.
The United States responded Friday with strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria, but did not strike Iranian territory.
At the request of Russia, which has accused Washington of “sowing chaos” in the Middle East, the UN Security Council is due to meet urgently on Monday.