YEMEN’S Houthi rebels have chillingly vowed to lead a “strong and effective response” against the US after a second night of strikes.
A radar site belonging to the Iran-backed militia was targeted with warship-launched Tomahawk missiles as both America and Britain brace themselves for retaliatory action.
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The US Navy destroyer USS Carney launched the lethal missiles to carry out what they called “follow-up action” on a “specific military” site after President Biden warned he would “not hesitate” to launch further attacks.
US Central Command said the radar site had been responsible for putting commercial ships in the Red Sea at risk.
Houthi media channels reported that Al-Dailami airbase in the rebel-held capital city of Sanaa was hit – but claimed the strike caused “no significant” damage or casualties.
The fresh strikes were on a much smaller scale than the US and Britain’s overnight blitz on Thursday of over 28 Houthi strongholds after weeks of the rebels causing carnage in the Red Sea.
The “targeted strikes” obliterated at least 60 targets and involved four RAF Typhoons, a dozen US F-35 Lightning stealth jets, US warships and submarines, laser-guided missiles, and more than 100 precision-guided munitions, including 80 Tomahawk missiles.
The Houthis confirmed that five militants were killed and six injured in the large-scale raids.
Their leaders promised to retaliate to a scale “beyond the imagination” and told the US and UK they had made a “huge mistake launching the war in Yemen”.
It was the first time strikes have been launched against Houthis since the group began wreaking havoc on international shipping in mid-November.
And it marks a dramatic escalation in the Red Sea crisis that for weeks has been threatening to ignite an all-out war across the region over Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.
In the wake of the initial strikes, multiple reports described “suspicious” boats approaching merchant ships in the area.
The UK were not involved in the latest round of attacks but Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron today refused to rule out further strikes.
He told NBC that Britain must do what is “necessary” to protect it ships.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday that the UK wanted to send a “strong signal” that the Houthi rebel attacks are wrong and cannot be carried out with “impunity”.
He called the joint strikes a “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence”.
It comes as…
Early this morning, US Central Command said: “At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen.
“This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan.
“12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels.”
The US and UK said the aerial attacks were “designed to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels”.
The militia group has repeatedly targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea as a means to avenge Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas.
But they have been launching missiles and drones at vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel – turning one of the world’s biggest shipping lanes into an active warzone.
On Friday, the Iranian-backed militia launched another missile towards a ship in the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen.
It is thought the terror group – who control large swathes of western Yemen – “mistakenly” fired the rocket at a tanker thinking it was a UK vessel.
The missile is thought to have landed in the Red Sea around 400-500 metres away from the Panama-flagged ship.
It was followed by three skiffs, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which last night received “multiple reports” of other small boats tailing ships elsewhere in the region.
Earlier this week, masked gunmen in military uniforms stormed the St Nikolas – a Greek-owned 900ft tanker carrying 145,000 tons of Iraqi crude oil – and ordered it to sail to Iran.
Iran’s navy said the hijacking was in retaliation for the ship and oil it had aboard being confiscated by the US last year.
On Tuesday, British and US warships shot down 18 Houthi drones and three cruise and anti-ship ballistic missiles that were barrelling towards them.
Royal Navy destroyer HMS Diamond blasted seven of the drones out of the sky and Defence Secretary Shapps stated the ship had been “deliberately targeted”.
The US and Britain had both warned that the Houthis faced “consequences” for Tuesday’s attack.
General Michael Erik Kurilla, United States Central Command Commander, said: “We hold the Houthi militants and their destabilising Iranian sponsors responsible for the illegal, indiscriminate, and reckless attacks on international shipping that have impacted 55 nations so far, including endangering the lives of hundreds of mariners, including the United States.
“Their illegal and dangerous actions will not be tolerated, and they will be held accountable.”
Who are the Houthis?
THE Houthi rebels are terrorising vessels in the Red Sea and now their bases were blitzed in US and UK strikes – but who are they?
The Shia militant group, which now controls most of Yemen, spent over a decade being largely ignored by the world.
However, since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war they sprung from relative obscurity to holding roughly £1trillion of world trade hostage – turning one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes into an active warzone.
Why are they attacking ships?
The rebel group has been launching relentless drone and missile attacks on any ships they deem to be connected with Israel in solidarity with their ally Hamas.
The sea assaults have threatened to ignite a full-blown war in the Middle East as ripples from Israel’s war in Gaza are felt across the region – with Iran suspected of stoking the chaos.
However, there have been frequent attacks on commercial vessels with little or no link to Israel – forcing global sea traffic to halt operations in the region and sending shipping prices soaring.
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea increased 50 per cent between November and December.
Their slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam”.
And the rebel group’s leaders have previously pledged the attacks will continue until Israel stops its devastating offensive inside Gaza.
On Thursday night, explosions rang out in Yemen and President Biden and PM Rishi Sunak struck over 60 Houthi targets.
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