The US says it has conducted “precision strikes” against five weapons storage locations in areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthi movement.
The operation, part of which involved B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, targeted hardened underground facilities housing missiles and other munitions the Iran-backed group had used to attack civilian and military ships, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
He added that the strikes demonstrated the US’s capability to hit facilities that adversaries had sought to place “out of reach. “
Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said strikes targeted six areas in and around the capital, Sanaa, and two near the northern city of Saada. It did not report any casualties.
US Central Command, which controls US activities in the Middle East, added that, based on initial reports, there were no indications of civilian casualties due to the strikes.
Several places Al-Masirah mentioned had military bases, which analysts have said were satellites.
Images pointed to the Houthis’ building or expanding underground centers, including the Television region in the north of Sanaa and al-Hafa to the southeast.
According to Houthi political official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, “The continued aggression will only increase our determination to continue our military operations in support of Gaza.”
The Houthis have struck commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden several times since November 2023.
They have sunk two vessels, captured a third of targeted ships, and killed crew members.
They claim they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
They have insisted – often wrongly – that they are attacking vessels that are connected only to Israel, the US, or the UK.
They haven’t been rattled by the arrival of warships from the West to escort commercial vessels, nor by US and British air attacks that have strafed territory they claim in Yemen’s northwest.
