The United States and the United Kingdom, with support from several other countries, have conducted extensive airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, hitting over 30 targets across 13 different locations.
Ships and fighter jets on Saturday launched strikes against the Houthis.
This joint operation, as stated in a release by the US, UK, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, was focused on targeting sites associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars.
These multilateral coalition strikes focused on targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen used to attack international merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region.
British and US forces conducted strikes against 36 Houthi targets at 13 locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that the strikes were the first in a series of actions by the U.S. in response to last weekend’s attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. soldiers.
“Our response began today,” he said. “It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry dismissed the allegation of Iran’s connection with an attack on US troops in Jordan, reiterating that the regional resistance forces do not take orders from Iran.
Saturday’s strikes marked the third time the US and Britain had conducted a large, joint operation to strike Houthi launchers, radar sites and drones. But the Houthis have made it clear that they have no intention of scaling back their assault.
Washington once more did not directly target Iran as it tries to find a balance between a forceful response and intensifying the conflict.
On Friday, the US destroyer Laboon and F/A-18s from the Eisenhower Carrier shot down seven drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Red Sea; the destroyer Carney also shot down a drone fired in the Gulf of Aden and US forces took out four more drones that were prepared to launch.
The strikes were announced after President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin attended the dignified transfer in Dover, Delaware, of the remains of the three soldiers killed in last weekend’s attack — Army Sgts. William J. Rivers, Kennedy L. Sanders and Breonna A. Moffett.
“This is the start of our response,” Austin said.
He added that, while the U.S. does not seek conflict in the region, “the president and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces.”
