Suspected US air strikes pounded Yemen, reportedly killing at least one person as the US military acknowledged earlier bombing a big military site in the heart of Sanaa controlled by the Houthi rebels.
The full extent of the damage and possible casualties was not immediately clear.
The attacks followed a night of air strikes early on Friday that appeared particularly intense compared to other days in the campaign that began on March 15th.
An Associated Press review has found the new US operation under president Donald Trump appears more extensive than those under former president Joe Biden, as the US moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel as well as dropping bombs in cities.
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The Atlantic magazine on Wednesday published details of plans for US air strikes in Yemen that were mistakenly shared by Trump administration officials with its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, on the commercially available messaging app Signal.
Meanwhile, satellite photos show a mysterious airstrip just off Yemen in a key maritime chokepoint now appears ready to accept flights and B2 bombers within striking distance of the country Saturday.
[ US judge orders Signal chat on Houthi attack plans to be preservedOpens in new window ]
The strikes into Saturday targeted multiple areas in Yemen under the control of the Iranian-backed Houthis, including the capital, Sanaa, and in the governorates of al-Jawf and Saada, rebel-controlled media reported.
The strikes in Saada killed one person and wounded four others, the Houthi-run Saba news agency said.
Saba identified the person killed as a civilian.
Houthi fighters and their allies often are not in uniform.
However, analysts believe the rebels may be undercounting the fatalities given the strikes have been targeting military and intelligence sites run by the rebels.
Many of the strikes haven’t been fully acknowledged by the Houthis, or the US military, while the rebels also tightly control access on the ground.
One strike early Friday, however, has been confirmed by the US military’s Central Command, which oversees its Mideast operations.
It posted a black-and-white video early Saturday showing an air strike targeting a site in Yemen.
While it did not identify the location, an AP analysis of the footage’s details corresponds to a known strike Friday in Sanaa.
The footage shows the bomb striking the military’s general command headquarters held by the Houthis, something the rebels have not reported.
The Houthi-controlled Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry in Sanaa separately said US strikes Friday destroyed “broadcasting stations, communication towers and the messaging network” in Amran and Saada governorates.
The strikes in Amran around the Jebel Aswad, or Black Mountain, had appeared particularly intense.
The new campaign of air strikes, which the Houthis now say have killed at least 58 people, started after the rebels threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip.
The rebels in the past have had a loose definition of what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning other vessels could be targeted as well.
The Houthis had targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors during their campaign targeting ships from November 2023 until January of this year.
They also launched attacks targeting American warships, though none have been hit so far.
The attacks greatly raised the Houthis’ profile as they faced economic problems and launched a crackdown targeting any dissent and aid workers at home amid Yemen’s decade-long stalemated war that has torn apart the Arab world’s poorest nation.
The Houthis have begun threatening both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two American allies in the region, over the US strikes.
That is even as the nations, which have sought a separate peace with the Houthis, have stayed out of the new U.S. air strike campaign.
The US military has moved at least four long-range stealth B2 bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, a base far outside of the range of the rebels that avoids using allies’ Mideast bases.
Three had been earlier seen there this week.
That means a fourth of all the nuclear-capable B2s that the United States has in its arsenal are now deployed to the base.
The Biden administration used the B2 with conventional bombs against Houthi targets last year.
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman has launched attacks from the Red Sea and the US military plans to bring the carrier USS Carl Vinson from Asia as well.
Meanwhile, France said its sole aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, was in Djibouti, an East African nation on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The French have shot down Houthi drones in the past, but they are not part of the US campaign there.
