(LibertySons.org) – US and British aircraft have launched a new series of strikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who continue to attack commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The latest strikes were aimed at rebel missile sites and control facilities. The Houthis have now admitted that the raids killed 16 people and injured another 42 –- the highest casualties the group has suffered so far.
US Retaliates For New Attacks
On May 30, following more Houthi missile attacks on cargo ships, US Navy aircraft from the carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower and RAF planes operating from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus attacked Houthi missile launch sites and other targets around Sanaa, the former capital of Yemen. Pentagon officials said the targets included command posts, missile launchers, and a Houthi-operated ship, possibly one of the vessels the rebels use to collect missiles and other weapons from Iranian transports.
In response, Houthi spokesman Mohammed al-Bukhaiti complained on X (formerly Twitter) that one of the strikes had hit a civilian radio station in the city of Hodeida and claimed 16 civilians had been killed. The British Ministry of Defence confirmed that RAF Typhoon FGR4 aircraft had hit targets around Hodeida but said the buildings were ground control stations for kamikaze drones. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the strikes were launched in self-defense “in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose.”
Last week’s attacks were the fifth round of joint US-British strikes on the Houthis, and jets from the US carrier have also been launching their own raids; the Houthis are now being hit almost daily. However, that hasn’t stopped them from launching over 50 attacks on merchant ships and even allied warships. So far, three civilian sailors have been killed, one ship sunk, and another seized by the Houthis and its crew kidnapped. The rebels claim they’re attacking ships on behalf of Gaza, although so far, none of the ships they’ve hit were actually transporting weapons to Israel.
In response to the latest airstrikes, the Houthis claimed they’d launched a missile and drone attack on Eisenhower, scoring “accurate and direct” hits on the Nimitz-class carrier. However, a Pentagon spokesman said he wasn’t aware of any attack on the ship and confirmed that Eisenhower hadn’t been hit.
The carrier is escorted by four air defense destroyers, which have shot down hundreds of Houthi missiles and drones since the attacks began –- and the day after the alleged missile attack, the Pentagon announced the carrier’s deployment in the Red Sea would be extended for another month, which wouldn’t be happening if she had just been damaged. It seems the battered Houthis are now claiming credit for attacks that never happened.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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