(AFP) – The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since President Donald Trump took office in January killed at least 20 people, the rebels said Sunday, as Washington warned Iran to stop backing the group. The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes. An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising from a residential district, and strikes were also reported in Yemen’s northern Saada region, a Huthi stronghold.
“Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Huthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency, reporting the strikes on Sanaa. A strike in the Saada region killed at least 10 people and wounded others, according to the Huthi Ansarollah website, condemning what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters taking off from an aircraft carrier and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”. There was no immediate comment from British authorities.
Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Huthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.
– ‘Escalation with escalation’ –
The Huthis vowed that the strikes “will not pass without response”. “Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on the rebel Al-Masirah TV station. Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the Huthis. The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.
They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians. The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around southern Africa. The Palestinian group Hamas, grateful for the Huthi support, hit out Saturday at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.
– ‘Hell will rain down’ –
The US has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets, some with British support. After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory. Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.
“To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said. “Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”. The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened. The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.
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© 2024 AFP
