The United States and Britain have launched strikes against targets linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen, four U.S. officials told Reuters on Thursday, the first strikes against the Iran-backed group since it started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea late last year.
A Houthi official confirmed “raids” across the country, including in the capital Sanaa along with the cities of Saada and Dhamar as well as in Hodeidah governate, calling them “American-Zionist-British aggression.”
The ongoing strikes are one of the most dramatic demonstrations to date of the widening of Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East since its eruption in October.
One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were being carried out by aircraft, ships and submarine. Two officials said Australia, Canada, Bahrain and the Netherlands provided support for the operation.
The official said more than a dozen locations were targeted and the strikes were intended to be more than just symbolic.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, defied a U.N. call to halt their missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and warnings from the United States of consequences if they failed to do so.
The Houthis say their attacksare a demonstration of support for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza. Israel has launched a military assault that has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
