The US military carried out airstrikes against several Houthi weapons storage facilities in Yemen, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that US Air Force B-2 stealth bombers were part of an operation to conduct “precision strikes” against five underground weapons storage sites in areas of Yemen. controlled by the Houthis.
“US forces attacked several of the Houthis' underground facilities that house various weapons components of the type that the Houthis have used to attack civilian and military vessels throughout the region,” Austin said.
Lloyd said he authorized the attacks at the direction of President Biden.
U.S. Central Command said in its own statement that the B-2 bomber strikes “demonstrated America's international strike capabilities to achieve these objectives, whenever necessary, anytime, anywhere.”
This is the latest of several US airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in retaliation for Houthi missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Earlier this month, CENTCOM reported that U.S. aircraft and warships had hit 15 targets containing Houthi offensive military capabilities.
United States, United Kingdom and their allies have made several rounds of joint attacks against Houthi targets in Yemen dating back to mid-January.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have made dozens of missile and drone attacks against commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in what it says is a response to the war between Israel and Hamas. Those attacks caused major supply chain disruptions around the world. The Houthis they have sunk two commercial ships and one missile attack In March, three people died on a Liberian-owned boat in the Gulf of Aden.
Houthi militants kidnapped a cargo ship linked to Israel last November, taking crew members hostage.
And in an escalation of events, the Houthis It directly hit the center of Tel Aviv. with a drone in July that killed one person and injured eight others. That attack led Israel to retaliate with their own airstrikes in Yemen.
In his statement, Lloyd said that “for more than a year” the Houthis “have recklessly and illegally attacked US and international vessels transiting the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis' illegal attacks continue to disrupt “the free flow of international commerce, threaten an environmental catastrophe, and put the lives of innocent civilians and the lives of U.S. and partner forces at risk.”
In January, the Biden administration declared The Houthis are a “specially designated international terrorist group.”
Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.