The U.S. military conducted airstrikes on several Houthi weapons storage facilities in Yemen, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bombers were part of an operation to conduct “precision strikes” on five underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
“U.S. forces targeted several of the Houthis’ underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region,” Austin said.
Lloyd said he authorized the strikes at the direction of President Biden.
U.S. Central Command said in its own statement that the strikes using B-2 bombers “demonstrated U.S. global strike capabilities to reach these targets, when necessary, anytime, anywhere.”
This marks the latest in several such U.S. airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in retaliation for Houthi missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. Earlier this month, CENTCOM reported that U.S. aircraft and warships had struck 15 targets containing Houthi offensive military capabilities.
The U.S., U.K. and its allies have conducted several rounds of joint strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen dating back to mid-January.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have conducted dozens of missile and drone attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in what it says is a response to the Israel-Hamas war. Those attacks caused major supply chain disruptions worldwide. The Houthis have sank two commercial vessels, and a missile attack in March on a Liberian-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden killed three people.
Houthi militants hijacked an Israeli-linked cargo ship last November, taking crew members hostage.
And in an escalation of events, the Houthis directly struck downtown Tel Aviv with a drone in July which killed one person and injured eight others. That attack prompted Israel to retaliate with its own airstrikes in Yemen.
In his statement Lloyd said that “for over a year” the Houthis “have recklessly and unlawfully attacked U.S. and international vessels transiting the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis’ illegal attacks continue to disrupt the free flow of international commerce, threaten environmental catastrophe, and put innocent civilian lives and U.S. and partner forces’ lives at risk.”
In January, the Biden administration declared the Houthis to be a “specially designated global terrorist group.”
Eleanor Watson
contributed to this report.
