Houthis; Counter Strikes Under Way

Sudan Events – Sumaya Sayed

The US and British militaries have bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, in a massive strike using warship-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, US officials said.

The military targets included logistical hubs, air defence systems and weapons storage locations, they said early on Friday. Rebel officials said they targeted American and British warships in the Red Sea in reaction to the strikes.

The strikes marked the first US military response against the Houthis for what has been a persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships since the start of Israel’s war on besieged Gaza.

US President Joe Biden said the strikes in Yemen show that the US and its allies “will not tolerate” Houthi attacks on shipping.

Houthi leader Ali al Qahoum said they are targeting American and British warships in the Red Sea in reaction to the strikes on Yemen.

“The Yemeni armed forces are responding forcefully to the American and British warships in the Red Sea, sparking a fierce war in the Red Sea and targeting American and British military sites and bases … and what is coming is greater.”

“American-Zionist-British aggression against Yemen launches several raids on the capital, Sanaa, Hudaida governorate, Saada, and Dhamar,” another Houthi official Abdul Qader al Mortada said on X.

“Our country was subjected to a massive aggressive attack by American and British ships, submarines, and warplanes,” the Houthis’ Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein al Ezzi said, according to rebel media.

“America and Britain will have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression,” he was quoted as saying.