11:58 p.m. ET, February 3, 2024
US and UK have conducted airstrikes on more than 30 Houthi targets in Yemen. Here’s what you need to know
From CNN’s Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky
The US-led coalition has carried out airstrikes in Yemen in response to the Houthi aggression at the Red Sea on February 3.
US Central Command
The US and the United Kingdom have targeted Houthi sites in Yemen from air and surface platforms, hitting over 30 locations, according to officials.
The strikes were conducted with support from several other countries, as stated in a joint release on Saturday.
“Today’s strike specifically targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars,” the statement released by the US, UK, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand said.
The Houthis reported that US and UK warplanes attacked multiple provinces in Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa.
In the strikes, two US destroyers launched Tomahawk missiles. The USS Gravely and USS Carney fired the land-attack cruise missiles, and F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier were also involved, officials stated.
To provide context, these strikes occurred as President Joe Biden’s administration has promised a “multi-tiered” response to a drone attack that resulted in the deaths of three US service members and wounded more than 40 last weekend.
In an effort to prevent a regional conflict with Tehran, the US did not directly target Iran, instead focusing on some of its most influential proxies in the region. This is an indirect way of sending a message to Iran’s leadership, which has become increasingly concerned about the actions of some of the militant groups it supports, according to CNN reports. Iran provides funding, weapons, and supplies to these groups to varying extents, but does not directly control them.
The strikes in Yemen are separate from the attacks in Iraq and Syria: The former is a response to ongoing Houthi assaults on international shipping routes and US warships in the Red Sea, while the latter is retaliation for a deadly attack on US troops. However, both aim at Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.
CNN’s Eyad Kourdi contributed to this post.
