The US military has fired another wave of ship and submarine-launch missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites, multiple US officials said.
It marks the fourth time in days it has directly targeted the group in Yemen as violence that ignited in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war continues to spill over in the Middle East.
Since mid-November, the Houthis, a Yemeni rebel group backed by Iran, have launched dozens of attacks on ships sailing through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
When the Israeli-Hamas war started on October 7th, the Houthis declared their support for Hamas and said they would target any ship travelling to Israel or leaving it.
The latest US strikes were launched from the Red Sea and hit more than a dozen sites, the officials said.
They followed an official announcement on Wednesday that the US has put the Houthis back on its list of specially designated global terrorists.
The sanctions that come with the formal designation are meant to sever violent extremist groups from their sources of financing.
[ Who are the Houthis and why are the US and UK attacking them?Opens in new window ]
Houthi-run al-Masirah TV said on Telegram that the strikes targeted the governorates of Dhamar, Hodieda, Taiz, al-Bayda and Saada.
Despite the sanctions and military strikes, including a large-scale operation on Friday carried out by US and British warships and warplanes that hit more than 60 targets across Yemen, the Houthis are continuing their harassment campaign of commercial and military ships.
The latest incident occurred when a one-way attack drone was launched from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen and struck the Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned and operated M/V Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden.
The United States has also strongly warned Iran to cease providing weapons to the Houthis.
On Thursday, a US raid intercepted ballistic missile parts the United States said Iran was shipping to Yemen.
Two US Navy Seals remain unaccounted for after one was knocked off the vessel by a wave during the seizure and the second followed the overcome Seal into the water.
On Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder said the US would continue to take military action to prevent further attacks.
He said: “They [the Houthis] are exploiting this situation to conduct attacks against the ships and vessels from more than 50 countries ... around the world.
“And so we’re going to continue to work with our partners in the region to prevent those attacks or deter those attacks in the future.”
There have been several incidents since the Friday joint operations. The Houthis fired an anti-ship cruise missile towards a US Navy destroyer over the weekend, but the ship shot it down.
The Houthis then struck a US-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden on Monday and a Malta-flagged bulk carrier in the Red Sea on Tuesday.
In response, the US struck four anti-ship ballistic missiles that were prepared to launch and presented an imminent threat to merchant and US Navy ships 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 it continued on its way. – AP