Although there isn’t much written about it, the war in Yemen keeps going on. On Saturday, February 24, U.S. and British warplanes carried out another round of military attacks against multiple bases controlled by Iran-backed Houthi militants. This was the largest operation since February 3, when the allies hit Houthi targets. The conflict in Yemen escalated after October 7, when Hamas attacked Israeli fighters and civilians in Gaza.
According to U.S. officials, the aim of the strike was to preclude any chance that the Houthi control trade routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, attack commercial cargo ships, and, as a consequence, cause slowdowns to global trade–something that has been happening in the last four months at least. The operation was “necessary and proportionate”.
“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade, naval vessels, and the lives of innocent mariners in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” the statement said, quoted by The New York Times.
The operation started from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier. The U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets launched and hit underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities, one-way attack unmanned aerial systems, air defense systems, radars and a helicopter–for a total of 18 targets blown up across 8 locations in Yemen.
The mission was also supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand militants, according to the joint statement signed by the countries.
Houthi announced that they would not hesitate to carry out the next counterattack. “The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that they will confront the US-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arabian Seas in defense of our country, our people and our nation,” it said in a statement.
