US Strikes Again At Houthi-Controlled Site Despite Rising Criticism
The US military launched another attack on Saturday on Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen, despite criticism over its earlier assault on Friday to restrict Houthis from hindering global trade by targeting container ships navigating along the Red Sea in protest against Israel”s Gaza.
Associated Press journalists in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, reportedly heard one loud explosion as the U.S. military targeted an additional location, a radar site, that still presented a threat to maritime traffic after it hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets on Friday. The AP claimed that the operation hadn”t yet been publicly announced.
The latest development came after President Joe Biden warned about the further attacks on Houthis in Yemen, and the U.S. Navy urged American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the initial airstrikes as Yemen’s Houthis vowed fierce retaliation, which raised the prospect of a wider conflict in the region.
U.S. military and White House officials have been expecting a Houthi strike back to the U.S.-led bombardment—launched in response to a recent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the vital Red Sea—that killed at least five people and wounded six, as the Houthi said. The strikes, in two waves, took aim at targets in 28 different locations across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
“We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behaviour along with our allies,” Biden told reporters during a stop in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
Asked if he believes the Houthis are a terrorist group, Biden responded, “I think they are.” In a later exchange with reporters during a stop in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the president said whether the Houthis were redesignated as such was “irrelevant.”
Biden”s warning has come amid U.S. lawmakers, including Democrats”, criticisms over bypassing congressional authorization for carrying out the strikes.
“They’re wrong, and I sent up this morning when the strikes occurred exactly what happened,” Biden said.
The Pentagon said Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the military action from the hospital where he is recovering from complications following prostate cancer surgery.
The White House had been considering redesignating the Houthis as a terrorist organisation after they began their targeting of civilian vessels in November, and the administration formally delisted the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organisation” and “specially designated global terrorists” in 2021, undoing a move by President Donald Trump.
