U.S., British militaries bomb Houthi sites in Yemen in response to attacks on commercial ships

The U.S. and British militaries were bombing more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday in a massive retaliatory strike using warship-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets, several U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

The military targets included logistical hubs, air defence systems and weapons storage locations, they said.

U.S. President Joe Biden said the strikes were meant to demonstrate that the U.S. and its allies "will not tolerate" the militant group's attacks on the Red Sea. He said the U.S. and its allies only made the move after attempts at diplomatic negotiations and careful deliberation.

"These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea — including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history," Biden said in a statement. "These attacks have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation."

Biden said the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Bahrain were providing support for the operation. The New York Times, quoting unidentified U.S. officials, said the support by those countries was expected to include logistics and intelligence.

Associated Press journalists in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, heard four explosions early Friday local time but saw no sign of warplanes. Two residents of Hodieda, Amin Ali Saleh and Hani Ahmed, said they heard five strong explosions hitting the western port area of the city, which lies on the Red Sea and is the largest port city controlled by the Houthis. Explosions also were heard by residents of Taiz, a southwestern city near the Red Sea.

The strikes marked the first U.S. military response against the Houthis for what has been a persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships since the start of the war in Israel. And the co-ordinated military assault comes just a week after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the Houthis to cease the attacks or face potential military action. The officials confirmed the strikes on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The warning appeared to have had at least some short-lived impact, as attacks stopped for several days.

On Tuesday, however, the Houthi rebels fired their largest-ever barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea, with U.S. and British ships and American fighter jets responding by shooting down 18 drones, two cruise missiles and an anti-ship missile. And on Thursday, the Houthis fired an anti-ship ballistic missile into the Gulf of Aden, which was seen by a commercial ship but did not hit the ship.

In a separate statement, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Royal Air Force carried out targeted strikes against military facilities used by the Houthis.

Noting the militants have carried out a series of dangerous attacks on shipping, he added, "This cannot stand."

Sunak said the U.K. took "limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence, alongside the United States with non-operational support from the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping."

Rebel leader promises fierce response

The rebels, who have carried out 27 attacks involving dozens of drones and missiles just since Nov. 19, said Thursday that any attack by American forces on its sites in Yemen will spark a fierce military response.

"The response to any American attack will not only be at the level of the operation that was recently carried out with more than 24 drones and several missiles," said Abdel Malek al-Houthi, the group's supreme leader, during an hour-long speech. "It will be greater than that."

The Houthis say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But their targets increasingly have little or no connection to Israel and imperil a crucial trade route linking Asia and the Middle East with Europe.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council passed a resolution Wednesday that demanded the Houthis immediately cease the attacks and implicitly condemned their weapons supplier, Iran. It was approved by a vote of 11-0 with four abstentions — by Russia, China, Algeria and Mozambique.