US carries out strikes against Houthis in Yemen, defense official says

The US carried out a series of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen late Saturday evening, according to a US defense official, targeting numerous weapons storage facilities across at least three locations.

The facilities housed advanced conventional weapons used to target ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, said the official, who added that the US used fighter jets to carry out the attack.

The Iran-backed Houthis have for months targeted ships in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways, calling the attacks a response to Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas.

The Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah are all part of an Iran-led alliance spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza and Iraq that has attacked Israel and its allies since the war began last year. They say they won’t stop striking Israel and its allies until a ceasefire is reached in the Palestinian enclave.

In mid-October, after more than a year of attacks by the Houthis on US and international vessels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the US struck the militant group using stealth B-2 bombers for the first time. Austin said he authorized the strikes at the direction of President Joe Biden to “further degrade” the Houthis’ capabilities.

The B-2 bombers, which can carry a far larger payload than fighter jets, were a clear message to Iran, with Austin saying afterward that the US can hit targets “that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified.”

“We will continue to make clear to the Houthis that there will be consequences for their illegal and reckless attacks,” he said at the time.