The US bombed more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday in a series of airstrikes against Iran-backed rebels.
Military aircraft and warships struck the militant strongholds and their weapons systems in five locations, days after US warships were attacked in the Red Sea.
The joint operation with the British military is a sign of serious escalation, with the Middle East still waiting to see whether Israel will retaliate against Iran for the rocket fire earlier this week.
Operations had been limited to shipping channels and attacking military bases.
Houthi media said seven attacks hit Hodeida airport, a major port city, and the Katheib area, which has a Houthi-controlled military base.
The US hit more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen with airstrikes on Friday
Another four attacks hit the Seiyana area in Sanaa, the capital, and two struck Dhamar province.
The Houthi media office also reported three airstrikes in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa.
The rebels fired more than half a dozen ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three U.S. ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy’s destroyers, according to several U.S. officials.
Houthi rebels also claimed on Monday that they had shot down another US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the country. The Houthis have also launched rockets at Israel.
Earlier on Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader held a rifle at his side as he addressed worshipers in Tehran in a rare public sermon, days after the rocket attack on Israel.
Today was the first sermon by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 80, in almost five years to worshipers at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla Mosque in central Tehran.
It came three days before the one-year anniversary of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which was sparked by the Iran-backed Palestinian group on October 7.
The joint operation with the British military is a sign of serious escalation, with the Middle East still waiting to see whether Israel will retaliate against Iran for the rocket fire earlier this week.
Khamenei said the attack, which triggered the war between Israel and Hamas, was both “logical and legal” for Palestinians of the “right.”
From the crowd, some fervent supporters, outraged by a year of hostilities, held portraits of slain allied leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Khamenei, who addressed his audience mainly in Arabic, took the opportunity to call Hezbollah’s fight a “vital service to the region,” warning Israel “that it will not last long.”
Iran-backed Houthi militants have launched repeated attacks on shipping targets in the Red Sea, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza following Israel’s military response to the October 7 attacks.
The US has responded with counterattacks on Houthi weapons stockpiles and strengthened naval assets in the region.
In early August, following a Houthi attack on a container ship in the Red Seat, US forces attacked Houthi targets in Yemen, including anti-ship cruise missiles.
US CENTCOM said the weapons “posed a clear and imminent threat to US and coalition forces, and to merchant shipping in the region.”
More to follow