US announces new strikes in Yemen

The destroyer USS Carney fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Houthi radar station in Yemen, US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said, confirming reports in the media.

The new strikes occurred at 3:45 am local time and were “a follow-on action” to the US and UK strikes that took place the previous night.

Yemeni TV station Al-Masirah said that the strikes were targeting the country’s capital Sanaa.

The US and Britain previously carried out “defensive” airstrikes and launched cruise missiles at Yemen with the aim of punishing the Houthis – a Shia Islamist group that controls part of the country, including Sanaa and the key port city of Hodeidah – for disrupting the shipping in the vital Red Sea waterway.

The Houthis have pledged solidarity with the Palestinians and vowed not to stop attacking merchant vessels until Israel ends its ongoing war with Hamas, which erupted on October 7. More than 50 countries have since been affected in 27 Houthi attacks on ships, according to the White House.

Houthi military leader Mahdi al-Mashat reiterated on Friday that the group will continue attacking Israeli-linked ships “until the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians” ends. The Houthis have fired at least one ballistic missile into the Red Sea since the initial US-UK strikes, according to Washington.

In a statement Biden vowed to authorize “further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce” if necessary.

The strikes threaten to trigger further chaos and turmoil in the Middle East and came at a time when Israel was already locked in a fierce war with the Hamas militants in Gaza. There are divisions among the western countries as well with Italy, Spain and some others not joining the US-UK coalition in launching the strikes on the Houthi terrorists over attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea.