Houthi rebels say they have killed at least 16 people and injured 35 others in joint US-British air strikes in Yemen

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Joint British-American airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others on Friday, rebels said, marking the highest publicly acknowledged death toll in multiple waves of ship-attacks.

Three U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an attack underway at the time, said Thursday’s strikes hit a variety of underground facilities, rocket launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi ship and other facilities. They described it as a response to a recent increase in attacks by the Iran-backed militia group on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden related to the war between Israel and Hamas.

The US F/A-18 fighter jets involved in the attacks took off from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, officials said. Other US warships in the region were also involved.

But the Houthis focused on a single attack on Friday morning, which they said hit a building belonging to the Hodeida radio station and private homes in the Red Sea port city. Their satellite news channel Al Masirah broadcast images of a bloodied man being carried down the stairs and others receiving care in hospital.

The Houthis described all those killed and injured in Hodeida as civilians, which the Associated Press could not immediately confirm. The rebel forces that have held the Yemeni capital Sanaa since 2014 include fighters who often do not wear uniforms.

Other attacks took place outside Sanaa near the airport and communications facilities in Taiz, the broadcaster reported. Little further information was released about these locations – which probably indicates that Houthi military positions were hit.

“We confirm this brutal aggression against Yemen as punishment for its supportive stance towards Gaza, as support for Israel in continuing its genocidal crimes against the wounded, besieged and steadfast Gaza Strip,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam wrote on the social media platform X.

In the UK, the Ministry of Defence said Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s had struck both Hodeida and, further south, Ghulayfiqah, identifying targets as “buildings housing ground control facilities for drones and used as storage for very long-range drones and surface-to-air weapons”.

“The attacks were carried out in self-defence in the face of the ongoing threat from the Houthis,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “The Houthis pose an ongoing threat.”

The Houthis have stepped up attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and are demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza that has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.

According to the U.S. Maritime Administration, the Houthis have carried out more than 50 attacks on ships since November, killing three sailors, hijacking one vessel and sinking another. This week they attacked a ship carrying grain for Iran, the rebels’ main sponsor.

On Wednesday, another US MQ-9 Reaper drone apparently crashed in Yemen. The Houthis claimed they had fired a surface-to-air missile at it. The US Air Force reported no missing aircraft, raising suspicions that the drone may have been controlled by the CIA. Three drones may have been lost in May alone.

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Baldor reported from Washington.