The U.S. military on Friday struck over a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen using both aircraft and warships, U.S. officials told CBS News.
The strikes, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command, hit 15 targets containing Houthi offensive military capabilities, and the strikes were “to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S., coalition, and merchant vessels.”
The Houthis last week launched what the Pentagon characterized as “a complex attack” using cruise missiles and drones in the vicinity of U.S. Navy ships. The weapons the Houthis launched were either shot down by the Navy ships or failed, according to the Pentagon.
None of the U.S. ships were hit, and no U.S. personnel were injured, but the attack further demonstrated that months of U.S. airstrikes have not dissuaded Houthis from their campaign targeting ships in the Red Sea.
Since last November, the Houthis have targeted over 100 ships, sunk two and hijacked another. The group says it is launching the attacks to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, but U.S. officials say many of the ships targeted have no connection to Israel’s war.
Recently, the Houthis have gone after Israel directly, launching a drone at Tel Aviv in July and a missile in September. Both attacks prompted an Israeli response targeting sites in Yemen.
U.S. Central Command forces regularly launch strikes against Houthi missile or drone launchers when there are indications that the Houthis are planning attacks on U.S. military or commercial ships, but Friday’s strikes went after more of the Houthi infrastructure.
Earlier this year, the U.S. and U.K. conducted several rounds of joint air strikes targeting not just launchers, but also infrastructure, like storage facilities. Neither the widespread strikes nor the “whack a mole”-type strikes seem to have convinced the Houthis to stop the attacks.
In August, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh acknowledged the Houthis have continued to retain the capacity to launch attacks, but she said the strikes targeting their infrastructure have degraded some Houthi capability.
“They still maintain a robust arsenal, but we have been able to degrade their capabilities over time,” Singh said.
The Houthis, like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, are backed by and have received weapons from Iran.