After deadly attacks on Yemen, the Houthis attack US aircraft carriers in the Red Sea

Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had launched a missile attack on a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.

Sanaa:

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they launched a missile attack on a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea in retaliation for recent deadly US and British attacks in Yemen, Al Jazeera reported.

Houthis’ military spokesman Yahya Saree announced the attack on the aircraft carrier Eisenhower on Friday. The group had previously claimed that at least 16 people had been killed in US and British strikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah province. This is the highest publicly acknowledged death toll in several waves of attacks linked to the group’s alleged attacks on ships.

The Houthi-controlled Al Masirah television channel broadcast footage showing the treatment of wounded civilians in Hodeidah and revealing the aftermath of Thursday’s attacks. At least 42 people were injured.

“The American-British aggression will not prevent us from continuing our military operations in support of Palestine,” Houthi representative Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said on X, warning that the rebels would “respond to escalation with escalation.”

According to Al Jazeera, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that eight unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were destroyed in attacks on 13 Houthi targets in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen and over the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defence said that Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s had carried out strikes on Hodeidah and Ghulayfiqah, identifying targets as “buildings housing ground control facilities for drones and storage facilities for very long-range drones and surface-to-air weapons”.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the military action as a form of “self-defense in the face of the ongoing threat from the Houthis.”

The Iran-aligned Houthi movement controls significant parts of Yemen after nearly a decade of conflict with a Western-backed coalition led by Saudi Arabia. They have been vocal supporters of the Palestinians in Israel’s ongoing conflict in Gaza and have carried out repeated drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November.

Iran condemned the US-British attacks as a “violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity … international law and human rights,” Al Jazeera reported, citing Iranian state media.

“The aggressive governments of the United States and Britain are responsible for the consequences of these crimes against the Yemeni people,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.

According to the U.S. Maritime Administration, the Houthis have carried out over 50 attacks on ships, resulting in casualties, vessel seizures and disruption to global trade routes. The campaign has forced shipping companies to seek alternative routes, affecting about 12 percent of global trade that transits the Red Sea.

Despite retaliatory strikes by the US and Britain aimed at weakening the Houthis’ capabilities, the rebels have continued their attacks. In their latest actions, they targeted a Greek bulk carrier and other vessels in response to Israeli attacks on Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

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