US military launches another barrage of missiles against Houthi sites in Yemen
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military fired another wave of ship and submarine missile attacks on Houthi-controlled locations on Wednesday, multiple U.S. officials said. The war between Israel and Hamas continues to spill over into the Middle East.
The attacks were launched from the Red Sea and hit more than a dozen locations, officials said. The strikes followed an official announcement Wednesday that the US has placed the Houthis back on the list of specially designated global terrorists. The sanctions that come with the formal designation are intended to disconnect violent extremist groups from their sources of funding.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been made public.
Despite the sanctions and military strikes, including a large-scale operation carried out Friday by US and British warships and fighter jets that struck more than 60 targets in Yemen, the Houthis continued their campaign of intimidation against commercial and military ships. The latest incident occurred on Wednesday when a one-way drone was launched from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen and struck the Marshall Islands-flagged, US-operated M/V Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden.
The US has also strongly warned Iran to stop supplying weapons to the Houthis. On Thursday, a US attack on a dhow intercepted ballistic missile parts that Iran was shipping to Yemen. Two US Navy SEALs remain missing after one was knocked off the ship by a wave during the attack and the second followed the vanquished SEAL into the water.
On Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said the US would continue to take military action to prevent further attacks.
“They are exploiting this situation to carry out attacks on ships and vessels from more than 50 countries… around the world. And so we continue to work with our partners in the region to prevent or deter these attacks in the future,” Ryder said.
Several incidents have occurred since Friday’s joint operations. The Houthis fired an anti-ship cruise missile at a US Navy destroyer over the weekend, but the ship shot it down. The Houthis then struck a US ship in the Gulf of Aden on Monday and a Malta-flagged bulk carrier in the Red Sea on Tuesday. In response, the US on Tuesday struck four anti-ship ballistic missiles ready to launch that posed an immediate threat to merchant and US naval vessels in the region.
Hours later, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Zografia. The ship was hit, but no one was injured and continued on its way.
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed from Washington.