The US military early yesterday struck another Houthi-controlled site in Yemen that it had determined was putting commercial vessels in the Red Sea at risk, a day after the US and UK launched multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels.
Associated Press journalists in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, heard one loud explosion.
The US Central Command said the “follow-on action” early yesterday against a Houthi radar site was conducted by the US Navy destroyer USS Carney using Tomahawk land attack missiles.
Photo: AP
The first day of strikes on Friday hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets.
US President Joe Biden on Friday said that the Houthis could face further strikes.
The latest strike came after the US Navy on Friday told US-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the initial airstrikes.
The warning came as Yemen’s Houthis vowed fierce retaliation, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel’s war in Gaza.
The US military and White House officials said they expected the Houthis to try to strike back.
The US-led bombardment — launched in response to a recent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the vital Red Sea — killed at least five people and wounded six, the Houthis said.
The US said the strikes, in two waves, took aim at targets in 28 different locations across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
“We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies,” Biden told reporters during a stop in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
Asked if he believes the Houthis are a terrorist group, Biden responded: “I think they are.”
The president in a later exchange with reporters during a stop in Allentown, Pennsylvania, said that whether the Houthis are redesignated as such was “irrelevant.”
Biden also pushed back against some lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, who said he should have sought congressional authorization before carrying out the strikes.
“They’re wrong, and I sent up this morning when the strikes occurred exactly what happened,” Biden said.
The Pentagon said that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the military action from the hospital where he is recovering from complications following prostate cancer surgery.
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