The US launched a blistering barrage of missiles at more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday — obliterating the Iranian-backed rebels’ weapons systems, bases and other equipment, officials said.
Fighter jets and warships bombed the militant strongholds at five separate locations, according to US officials.
Seven missiles struck the airport in the major port city of Hodeida and the Katheib area, which is home to a rebel-controlled military base, Al Masirah TV, the main Houthi-run news outlet, reported.
Four other strikes hit the capital, Sanaa, and two more targeted Dhamar province, according to the outlet.
Meanwhile, multiple air raids were also reported in Bayda province.
The US strikes came just days after the Houthis claimed responsibility for shooting down a US military drone over Yemen and for an attack targeting American warships.
The militants had fired off a slew of ballistic missiles at three US ships located in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, US officials said.
The latest US strikes unfolded, too, soon after Houthi rebels had threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel — one of the latest escalations threatening all-out war between the Jewish state and Iran’s terror proxies.
An earlier report had the British military participating in Friday’s strikes, but the UK Defense Ministry later said it was not involved in them, several outlets reported.
Israel, for its part, launched a massive retaliatory attack last Sunday on Houthis’ seaports and power plants after the terror group fired a ballistic missile at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with a barrage of missiles and drones ever since the Israel-Hamas war broke out last October.
In that time, they’ve managed to seize at least one vessel and sink two more.
Other missiles, however, have either been intercepted by a US-led operation in the Red Sea or failed to reach their intended targets, officials have said.
The militants have claimed they are targeting ships tied to Israel, the US or UK in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s war with Hamas.
With Post wires
