UK and US conduct more than a dozen strikes in Yemen against Houthi targets

Middle East, News, US February 26, 2024 , by IRIA No Comments

The United States and the United Kingdom joint forces struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on February 24, 2024, marking a fourth joint Anglo-American operation to protect Red Sea shipping routes.

According to the U.S. Central Command, the U.S. and UK armed forces conducted the joint operation with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The statement said that the aerial strikes were conducted on “18 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen.”

“These strikes from this multilateral coalition targeted areas used by the Houthis to attack international merchant vessels and naval ships in the region. Illegal Houthi attacks have disrupted humanitarian aid bound for Yemen, harmed Middle Eastern economies, and caused environmental damage,” the statement added.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said eight locations were targeted near Yemen’s capital Sanaa, including Houthi underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities, one-way attack unmanned aerial systems, and air defense systems.

This marks the fourth instance in which the U.S. and British militaries have jointly executed an operation against the Houthis since January 12. Additionally, the U.S. has been conducting nearly daily strikes to neutralize Houthi targets, including incoming missiles and drones directed at ships, along with weapons that were poised for launch.

F/A-18 Super Hornets launch from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower supporting strikes against on Iranian-Backed Houthi Targets on Feb. 24. pic.twitter.com/bTtRdsCkwg
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 25, 2024

U.S. President Joe Biden and other top officials have consistently cautioned against the Houthi assaults on commercial shipping, stressing that such actions will not be tolerated. However, despite retaliatory measures, the Houthis’ ongoing campaign targeting shipping in the region has increased in response to Israel’s conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and shows no signs of abating.

The group has launched at least 57 attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 19, and the pace has picked up in recent days.

There have been at least 32 U.S. strikes in Yemen over the past month and a half; a few were conducted with allied involvement while the rest were conducted by the U.S. forces on their own.

A day before the latest strike operation, the U.S. Central Command reported that its destroyer USS Mason downed an anti-ship ballistic missile launched from Houthi-held areas in Yemen toward the Gulf of Aden. It added that the missile was likely targeting MV Torm Thor, a U.S.-flagged, owned, and operated chemical and oil tanker.

Operation Prosperity Guardian

The recent military operation is a part of Western countries’ efforts to protect the Red Sea shipping lanes, the commercial maritime route vital for international trade and particularly for oil supplies to Europe, the U.S., and the rest of the world.

During his visit to the Middle East in December 2023, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a new U.S.-led joint operation military operation to protect the commercial shipping routes in the Red Sea. According to Austin, Operation Prosperity Guardian focuses on “security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden”.

*^{The U.S. conducted strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on February 4, 2024. (Image Credit: Twitter/@CENTCOM)}*

Operation Prosperity Guardian has brought together naval forces from multiple countries including the U.S., UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain, to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The operation is also a part of the U.S.’s larger, Freedom of Navigation project that aims to protect commercial naval routes around the world.