The United States on Friday night (local time) carried out further airstrikes targeting Houthis in Yemen. The fresh airstrikes come after the UK and the US launched a coordinated multi-nation attack on nearly 30 locations used by Houthis.
American officials told CNN that the Friday airstrikes were much smaller in scope than the one conducted on Thursday. The recent airstrikes targeted a radar facility used by the Houthis, the officials said.
“At 3:45 am (Sana’a time) on January 13, US forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen. This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan. 12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels,” the US Central Command said.
“These strikes have no association with and are separate from Operation Prosperity Guardian, a defensive coalition of over 20 countries operating in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Gulf of Aden,” the US Centcom further added.
The Houthis retaliated to Thursday’s airstrikes by firing at least one anti-ship ballistic missile toward a commercial vessel, the American director of joint staff lieutenant general Douglas Sims II said.
The UK and the US backed by Canada, Australia, Bahrain and the Netherlands struck 28 separate Houthi sites to deter them from firing on international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. The US warned the Iran-backed militia of the possibility of additional military action if they carried out drone and missile attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
“We will make sure we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behaviour along with our allies,” US President Joe Biden said during an event in Pennsylvania.
“We will make sure we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behaviour along with our allies,” US President Joe Biden said during an event in Pennsylvania.
The UN chief Antonio Guterres warned all parties from taking steps that will lead to a wider conflict in West Asia following the airstrikes. The US strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council John Kirby said every step that the US is taking is to ensure deescalation.
“Everything we’re doing, everything we’re trying to do is to prevent any further escalation,” Kirby was quoted as saying by news agency CNN.
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