Further U.S. Missile Strikes on Houthi Targets in Yemen
The United States has fired more missiles targeting Houthi (Ansar Allah) sites in Yemen for the fourth and fifth time this week, following the reinstatement of the Houthis as a Specially Designated Terror Group.
The fourth round of missile strikes came from US ships and submarines located in the Red Sea on January 17 at approximately 11:59pm (Sana’a time) and targeted fourteen missiles that were deemed an immediate threat. US Central Command released a statement on X that the “missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships… (and) will degrade the Houthi’s capabilities to continue their reckless attacks”.
The fifth round of missile strikes so far targeted two Houthi anti-ship missiles on 18 January at around 3:40pm (Sana’a time) in Yemen as they were deemed another “imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region”, and were “struck and destroyed… in self-defense”.
Even with the designation as a terrorist group, repeated military strikes such as the joint US-UK strikes on Houthi militant facilities in Yemen, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Netherland and Canada, and further sanctions, the Iran-backed Houthis are continuing to harass merchant and military ships in the seas around Yemen, including the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of Ansar Allah said: “The American must understand that we are in a position of faith that cannot be changed by intimidation, aggression, or bombing.”
In response to the strikes in a statement via the Yemen News Agency (Saba), Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Ansar Allah, highlighted that the joint British and American strikes, and Israeli aggression had violated Yemeni sovereignty, and that the Houthi will not waiver their support of the Palestinian people.