A spokesman for the Houthi rebels said the Iran-backed armed group would provide a strong response to a second, albeit much smaller, series of US air strikes in Yemen overnight.
Spokesman Nasr al-Din Amer told Al Jazeera Arabic that there were no casualties or “material damage” resulting from the latest US action, but that there would be a “firm, strong and effective response.”
The United States targeted a radar facility used by the Houthis in the early hours of Saturday morning local time, according to a US official. A joint US-UK operation 24 hours earlier had hit nearly 30 separate sites, in an attempt to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to fire on international shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
A statement issued by the group on Friday said that five Houthi fighters were killed in the first wave of strikes and six others were wounded.
The Houthi armed forces said in a statement broadcast on the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV channel that the attacks, which the Houthis described as “brute aggression”, would not dissuade Yemen from its stance of solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza.
CNN’s Oren Lieberman contributed reporting.
