Rebel group claims aggression after reporting 16 dead in US-UK attacks in Hodeidah province.
Yemen’s Houthis say they launched a missile attack on a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea in response to deadly US and British attacks in Yemen.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree announced the attack on the aircraft carrier Eisenhower on Friday; The group previously claimed that at least 16 people were killed in US and UK attacks on Hodeidah province, the highest publicly recognized death toll in several rounds of attacks due to the group’s targeting of shipping.
The aftermath of Thursday’s attacks were announced on Al Masirah television, a Houthi-controlled channel, which broadcast a video that appeared to depict injured civilians being treated in Hodeidah. At least 42 people were injured.
“American-British aggression will not stop us from continuing our military operations in support of Palestine,” Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said on X, warning that the rebels would “meet escalation with escalation.”
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in X that strikes against 13 Houthi targets “successfully destroyed” eight unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen and over the Red Sea.
The British Ministry of Defense said Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s conducted strikes in Hodeidah and further south in Ghulayfiqah. It described the targets as “buildings identified as housing drone ground control facilities and providing storage for long-range drones as well as surface-to-air weapons.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the military action was a form of “self-defence in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose”.
Relentless
The Houthi movement, an Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen after nearly a decade of war against a Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition, has emerged as a strong supporter of the Palestinians in Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 people.
The group has launched repeated drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November, demanding that Israel end the war.
In Tehran, Houthi ally Iran condemned the US-UK strikes as “violations of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity…, international laws and human rights”, Iranian state media reported.
“The aggressor governments of the US and UK are responsible for the consequences of these crimes against the Yemeni people,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.
According to the US Maritime Administration, the Houthis launched more than 50 attacks on ships in total, killing three sailors, seizing one ship and sinking another. This week, they attacked a ship transporting grain to Iran.
The campaign forced shipping companies to avoid the Red Sea route, which normally carries about 12 percent of global trade, rerouting cargo on longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.
Since January, the United States and the United Kingdom have launched retaliatory strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, aiming to degrade their ability to attack vital waterways. But the attacks did little to deter the Houthis.
On Wednesday, they said they attacked a Greek-owned bulk carrier and several other ships in response to Israeli attacks on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2024/05/31/tensoes-no-mar-vermelho-houthis-do-iemen-atacam-porta-avioes-dos-eua-apos-ataques-mortais/
