( NYPost )
The US launched a blistering barrage of missiles at more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday — obliterating the Iranian-backed rebels’ weapons systems, bases and other equipment, officials said.
Fighter jets and warships bombed the militant strongholds at five separate locations to “protect freedom of navigation” in the region, US officials said — after the rebels targeted American warships last month and threatened to step up their attacks on Israel.
Seven missiles struck the airport in the major port city of Hodeida and the Katheib area, which is home to a rebel-controlled military base, Al Masirah TV, the main Houthi-run news outlet, reported.
Four other strikes hit the capital, Sanaa, and two more targeted Dhamar province, according to the outlet.
Meanwhile, multiple air raids were also reported in Bayda province.
“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted strikes on 15 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen today at about 5 p.m. (Sanaa time),”
American officials said on X, referring to the Yemen time zone.
“These targets included Houthi offensive military capabilities. These actions were taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels,” Central Command said.
The US strikes came just days after the Houthis claimed responsibility for shooting down a US military drone over Yemen and for an attack targeting American warships.
The militants had fired off a slew of ballistic missiles at three US ships located in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, US officials said.
The latest US strikes also unfolded soon after Houthi rebels had threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel — one of the latest escalations threatening all-out war between the Jewish state and Iran’s terror proxies.
An earlier report had the British military participating in Friday’s strikes, but the UK Defense Ministry later said it was not involved in them, several outlets reported.
Israel, for its part, launched a massive retaliatory attack last Sunday on Houthis’ seaports and power plants after the terror group fired a ballistic missile at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane.
The Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with a barrage of missiles and drones ever since the Israel-Hamas war broke out last October.
In that time, they’ve managed to seize at least one vessel and sink two more.
Other missiles, however, have either been intercepted by a US-led operation in the Red Sea or failed to reach their intended targets, officials have said.
The militants have claimed they are targeting ships tied to Israel, the US or UK in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s war with Hamas.
The US has previously fought back by bombing the rebels, who are considered an Iranian proxy terror group akin to the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists.
The terror organizations have joined together against Israel after it launched war on Gaza following Hamas’s massacre on the Jewish state Oct. 7.
The Israel-Gaza war is now threatening to explode into all out regional and potentially global war.
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