The United States and the United Kingdom launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen from air and surface platforms — including F/A-18 aircraft — on more than 30 targets in 13 locations, according to the officials.
The United States and the United Kingdom carried out the strikes with support from several other countries, according to a joint statement issued on Saturday.
“Today’s strike specifically targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars,” the statement issued by the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates said. New Zealand said.
The Houthis said that American and British warplanes bombed several governorates in Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
A US official told CNN that two US destroyers fired Tomahawk missiles as part of the strikes. The aircraft carriers USS Gravely and USS Carney fired ground-attack cruise missiles and F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier also participated, officials said.
For context: The strikes come over consecutive days as President Joe Biden’s administration pledged a “multi-level” response to a drone attack that killed three US service members and injured more than 40 last weekend.
In seeking to avoid a regional war with Tehran, the United States has not targeted Iran directly, instead going after some of its most powerful proxies in the region. CNN reported that this is an indirect way to try to send a message to the Iranian leadership, which has become increasingly nervous about the actions of some of the armed organizations it supports. Iran funds, arms, and supplies these groups to varying degrees, but its leadership does not directly control them.
The strikes in Yemen differ from attacks in Iraq and Syria: the former are a response to ongoing Houthi attacks on international shipping lanes and US warships in the Red Sea, while the latter are retaliation for a deadly attack on US forces. But both target Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.
CNN’s Iyad Kurdi contributed to this post.
