U.S. forces intensify attacks on Houthi locations in Yemen

The Navy destroyer GravelyPhoto byU.S. Navy

The United States has targeted the Houthi group in Yemen for the fourth time in as many days, according to U.S. officials. The violence that began in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war is still reverberating across the Middle East. On Wednesday, the military launched another wave of missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites.

The strikes, which originated in the Red Sea, were directed at fourteen missiles that the command had identified as posing a "imminent threat." The news that the United States has re-designated the Houthis as a worldwide terrorist organization prompted the strikes. Sanctions accompanying the official designation aim to cut off funding for violent extremist groups.

Central Command announced late Wednesday that "Forces conducted strikes on 14 Iran-backed Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired in Houthi controlled areas in Yemen" in a statement put on X. "The imminent threat posed by these missiles on launch rails to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region was significant, and the fact that they could have been fired at any moment compelled U.S. forces to defend themselves."

The Houthis persist in their campaign of harassing commercial and military ships in defiance of sanctions and military strikes, including a large-scale operation on Friday that attacked over 60 targets across Yemen by U.S. and British warships and planes. On Wednesday, the US-owned and -operated M/V Genco Picardy, which flies the flag of the Marshall Islands, was hit in the Gulf of Aden by a one-way attack drone that had been launched from an area controlled by the Houthis in Yemen.

Along with the Houthis, the United States has firmly advised Iran to stop supplying them with weapons. Parts of ballistic missiles that the United States claimed Iran was delivering to Yemen were intercepted on Thursday during a raid on a dhow. During the seizure, a wave knocked down one U.S. Navy SEAL, and the second SEAL went into the ocean after him. Neither of them have been seen since.

Major General Pat Ryder, the press secretary for the Pentagon, stated on Wednesday that the United States would maintain its military posture in order to avert additional strikes.

More than fifty nations' ships and boats are the targets of attacks as they take advantage of this circumstance. Ryder assured the public that the United States will maintain its cooperation with regional allies in the fight against such threats.

Since the combined operations on Friday, there have been other occurrences. It was shot down by a U.S. Navy destroyer after the Houthis launched an anti-ship cruise missile at it over the weekend. On Monday, the Houthis attacked a vessel in the Gulf of Aden that belonged to the United States. The following day, in the Red Sea, they attacked a bulk carrier from Malta. U.S. Navy and merchant ships in the area were threatened by four ready-to-launch anti-ship ballistic missiles, which the United States hit on Tuesday.

The assault on the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Zografia was claimed by the Houthis a few hours thereafter. The ship took a hit, but thankfully nobody got hurt, so it kept on going.

Edited by Newsbreak Contributor Denys Shybinskiy