The US has launched hundreds of missile strikes against Yemen since January, but it has done nothing to stop Houthi attacks
US and British fighter jets launched 10 airstrikes against Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Monday, the Houthis’ Al Masirah TV reported, as the US bombing campaign continues despite its failure to deter the Houthis.
US Central Command confirmed that it launched a series of strikes against Houthi-controlled Yemen on Monday but did not say if the UK was involved. Yemenis have been attributing most strikes to both the US and the UK since the British joined the Americans for the first round of bombing on January 12 and have been involved in several rounds of strikes since.
CENTOM claimed that between 1:00 pm and 7:40 pm (Sanaa time), its forces “successfully engaged and destroyed seven anti-ship missiles, three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and three weapons storage containers in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.”
Al Masirah did not report any casualties, and there was no confirmation from the Houthi side on the US claims that it destroyed weapons. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said last week that 34 Yemeni fighters have been killed since the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, began targeting Israeli commercial shipping in response to the onslaught in Gaza. At least one civilian has been killed in the new US bombing campaign, according to the Yemen Data Project.
Al-Houthi mentioned the casualties when announcing that Ansar Allah intended to expand its scope of attacks to target Israeli-linked shipping in the Indian Ocean that was looking to avoid the Red Sea, demonstrating that the US bombing campaign has done nothing to deter the Houthis.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea announced Tuesday that Houthi forces targeted and struck the MADO, which he described as an American oil tanker. So far, there’s been no confirmation of the strike from the US. Sarea also said Yemeni forces fired missiles at southern Israel, and Israel confirmed for the first that a Houthi missile struck its territory, saying it hit an open area near Eilat.
The US backed a brutal Saudi/UAE war against the Houthis from 2015-2022 that involved heavy airstrikes and a blockade, and the Houthis only became more of a capable fighting force during that time.
The war killed at least 377,000 people, with more than half dying of starvation and disease caused by the siege. A ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudis has held relatively well since April 2022, but new US sanctions are now blocking the implementation of a lasting peace deal.