The military spokesman for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Yehya Sarea, confirmed this Sunday that the United States and the United Kingdom have carried out “in the last few hours” 48 attacks against alleged positions of this pro-Iranian Shiite movement, and warned that “they will not go unpunished.”
(Also read: US and UK attack dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen)
“US-British aggression (military) planes have launched 48 airstrikes in the last hours (…) these attacks will not dissuade us from our moral, religious and humanitarian stance in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and they will not go unresponsive and unpunished,” Sarea said in an official account on X.
He noted that of the 48 attacks, 13 targeted alleged positions of the Yemeni insurgents in Sana'a, 11 in the province of Taiz (southwest), 7 in Al Bayda (center), another 7 in Hajja (northwest), one in Sadá and 9 in the port city of Al Hodeida, on the Red Sea.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed yesterday the new wave of attacks by the US and the United Kingdom against the Houthis, and stated that they targeted underground storage facilities, command and control, missile systems, operational sites and storage of drones, radars and helicopters.
(You may be interested: Qatar announces that Hamas responded positively to the truce proposal in Gaza)
That would be the third joint U.S.-British operation since both countries first attacked Yemen on Jan. 12 with the stated goal of degrading the ability of pro-Iranian insurgents to threaten shipping in the Red Sea.
However, since that date, the US armed forces have carried out various bombings alone in recent weeks against Houthi missile and drone launching points, who since 2014 have controlled large regions of the north, center and west of the poor Arab country.
The last of those bombings took place last morning, when US forces “carried out a self-defense attack against a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” according to CENTOM in X.
(Also read: Bombings against positions of pro-Iranian armed groups in western Iraq)
“US forces identified the cruise missile in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that it posed an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” he added.
He considered that “this action will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer for US Navy ships and merchant ships.”
The escalation in Yemen coincides with rising tension further north, in Iraq and Syria, where on Friday the US bombed pro-Iranian militia positions, in retaliation for the death of three US soldiers at the end of January in an attack by these Shiite groups against a US military base on the Syrian-Jordanian border.
Both the Houthis and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq say their drone and missile attacks are supporting Palestinians under the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.
EFE
#Houthi #spokesperson #confirms #bombings #39They #unpunished39
