US, UK strike dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen

The United States and the United Kingdom announced that they had bombed dozens of targets in Yemen on Saturday February 4, in response to repeated attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels against ships. These air raids in Yemen come the day after a series of American strikes against elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian armed groups in Syria and Iraq, in retaliation for the death of three American soldiers in Jordan on January 28.

This is the third joint operation by the United States and the United Kingdom against the Houthis, and American forces had also carried out air raids alone against the rebels, who nevertheless continued their attacks.

Details of the targets

Saturday’s strikes targeted 36 rebel targets “in 13 locations in Yemen in response to continued Houthi attacks on international and commercial maritime traffic and warships transiting the Red Sea”, details a joint press release from the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries which provided their support for the operation. The attack targeted “deeply buried arsenals, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems and radars of the Houthis”adds the document.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes “aim to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia to carry out its reckless and destabilizing attacks.” “Coalition forces targeted 13 sites associated with the Houthis’ deep-buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems and radars”he added.