The United States carried out new airstrikes on Yemen on Monday, the Houthis’ Al Masirah TV said, expanding the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
Responding to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement’s threats to international shipping, the US launched a new wave of airstrikes on Saturday. On Monday, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Al Masirah said.
At least 53 people have been killed in the attacks, Anees Alsbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry, said on Sunday. Five children and two women were among the victims and 98 have been hurt, Alsbahi added on X.
The Houthis, whose terror movement has taken control of most of Yemen over the past decade, have launched scores of attacks on ships off its coast since November 2023, disrupting global commerce. The US campaign to intercept missiles and drones has burned through stocks of US air defenses.
The strikes, which one US official told Reuters might continue for weeks, come as Washington ramps up sanctions pressure on Iran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Sunday that his group would target US ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continues its attacks on Yemen.
“If they continue their aggression, we will continue the escalation,” he said in a televised speech.
The Houthi movement’s political bureau described the US attacks as a “war crime.” Moscow urged Washington to stop them.
The Houthis’ military spokesman, without providing evidence, said in a televised statement early on Monday that the group had launched a second attack against the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea.
US warplanes shot down 11 Houthi drones on Sunday, none of which came close to the Truman, a US official told Reuters. US forces also tracked a missile that splashed down off the coast of Yemen, the official said.
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