Sanaa (AFP) – The Iran-backed Huthis said Thursday they targeted an Israeli airport and army site as well as a US warship, soon after Israel reported intercepting missiles launched from Yemen. The Huthis “targeted Ben Gurion airport…with a ballistic missile…and a military target” south of Tel Aviv, their military spokesman Yahya Saree said.
Earlier Thursday, the Israeli military said it intercepted two missiles launched from Yemen “prior to crossing into Israeli territory” after it activated air raid sirens across multiple areas, including Jerusalem. Saree said the rebels also “targeted hostile warships in the Red Sea, including the American aircraft carrier (USS Harry S) Truman,” which he said was “in retaliation to the ongoing US aggression against our country”.
The United States launched what its Central Command called a “large scale operation” involving air strikes against the Huthis on March 15. Washington vowed to use overwhelming force until they stopped firing on vessels in the key shipping routes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the rebels threatened to resume attacks over the Gaza war. The Huthis have since reported near-daily US air strikes on areas under their control.
– Rebels say 2 killed –
Earlier Thursday, the rebels said two people had been killed in overnight air strikes near the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa that they blamed on the United States. The Huthis’ Al-Masirah TV channel reported nearly 20 strikes on Sanaa governorate, both north and south of the capital. “The American aggression killed two and injured two,” the Huthi-run health ministry’s spokesman Anis al-Asbahi said on social media platform X.
Al-Masirah also reported strikes early Thursday in Saada, the Iran-backed rebels’ northern stronghold which Huthi media had said was hit 17 times the day before. While the United States does not always report these raids, a United States defence official told AFP on Sunday that American forces were “conducting strikes across multiple locations of Iran-backed Huthi locations every day and night in Yemen”.
The latest strikes claimed by the Huthis come with Washington embroiled in scandal linked to the March 15 strikes. The Atlantic Magazine published the transcript of messages accidentally shared with its editor in a chat group of senior US officials on Signal, a commercially available messaging app. The magazine on Thursday published details of the March 15 attack plans, which it initially withheld, after the White House insisted no classified details were involved.
In response to the US strikes, the Huthis have claimed responsibility for multiple attacks on the Truman carrier group off Yemen’s coast, as well as projectiles fired at Israel. The Huthis began targeting shipping vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the start of the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinian people, but paused their campaign when a ceasefire in Gaza took effect in January. Earlier this month, they threatened to renew the attacks in the vital maritime trade route over Israel’s aid blockade on the Palestinian territory, triggering the first US strikes on Yemen since President Donald Trump took office in January.
© 2024 AFP
