The United States announced that it had carried out strikes on Thursday, February 8, targeting four surface drones and seven cruise missiles “ready to be launched against ships in the Red Sea” by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
These drones and missiles were “identified in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen” and posed “an imminent threat” to navigation, the US Middle East Command (Centcom) said on X.
The American army had earlier confirmed that it had carried out new strikes on Wednesday on sites of the Houthi rebels, supported by Iran. US forces had carried out “self-defense strikes against two mobile anti-ship missile systems ready for launch against ships in the Red Sea,” Centcom had said. Later the same day, they conducted “a second strike against a mobile surface-to-surface cruise missile system ready to be launched,” added the same source.
The Houthi news agency, Saba, reported on Tuesday what the rebels said were new US-British strikes in Hodeida province. The strikes targeted the Ras Issa area in the town of Souleif, according to Saba, and an employee of a refinery in this locality, Alaa, assured Agence France-Presse that he had heard two explosions.
Ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden targeted since November
Since November, Houthi rebels have said they are targeting ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that they consider linked to Israel, in “solidarity” with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, territory bombed and besieged by Israel, at war against Hamas. Their attacks have forced many shipowners to suspend passage through this area where 12% of world trade passes.
Israel’s first ally, Washington, which announced that it would once again designate the Houthis as a “terrorist” entity, set up a multinational coalition in December to “protect” maritime traffic. This coalition having so far failed to stop the attacks, American and British forces have carried out several strikes on Yemen since mid-January.
The Houthis control a large part of Yemen, after nearly a decade of war in this poor country on the Arabian Peninsula, also facing a serious humanitarian crisis.