US, Britain launch new joint strikes on Yemen's Huthis

American and British forces carried out a first wave of strikes against therebel group earlier this month, and the United States launched further airraids against missiles that Washington said posed imminent threats to bothcivilian and military vessels.
But the Huthis have vowed to continue their attacks -- just one part of agrowing crisis in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Hamas war, which hasraised tensions across the region as well as fears of a broader war directlyinvolving Iran, reports BSS.
The latest US-UK strikes were against "eight Huthi targets in Yemen inresponse to the Huthis' continued attacks against international andcommercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea,"Washington and London said in a joint statement with other countries thatsupported the military action.
"These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilitiesthat the Huthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocentmariners," the statement said.
The US Central Command said in a separate statement that the targets of thestrikes "included missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, radars,and deeply buried weapons storage facilities."
- 'Deliberate' targeting -
A senior US military official said the strikes were carried out using acombination of precision-guided munitions from American and British aircraft,and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
There were no concerns about civilian casualties at the sites that were hit,while Huthi losses are unknown at this time, the official told journalists.
"The targeting was very specific and ... very deliberate to go after thecapability that they are using to attack maritime vessels in the Red Sea, Babal-Mandab and Gulf of Aden. They were they were not intentionally selectedfor casualties -- they were going after weapons systems," the official added.
Yemen's official Saba news agency said strikes hit the capital Sanaa andseveral other parts of the country, while Huthi TV outlet Al-Masirah saidfour strikes targeted the Al-Dailami military base north of the capital,which is under rebel control.
Earlier on Monday, Huthis claimed they fired on a US military cargo ship offthe coast of Yemen, with their spokesman Yahya Saree saying they "led amilitary operation targeting the American military cargo ship Ocean Jazz inthe Gulf of Aden," near the Red Sea, with missiles.
- Two months of attacks -
Asked about the claim, a US defense official told AFP: "We're not seeing thatat all on our end and believe that statement to be untrue."
The Yemeni rebels began striking Red Sea shipping in November, saying theywere hitting Israeli-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, whichhas been ravaged by the Hamas-Israel war.
The Huthis have since declared American and British interests to belegitimate targets as well.
In addition to military action, Washington is seeking to put diplomatic andfinancial pressure on the Huthis, re-designating them as a "terrorist" entitylast week after dropping that label soon after President Joe Biden tookoffice.
The rebels reiterated on Monday that they will "respond to any attack" onYemen and continue to "prevent Israeli ships" from crossing the Red Sea andGulf of Aden until the end of the war in Gaza.
The latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict began after an unprecedentedOctober attack by thePalestinian militant group that resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 peoplein Israel, mostly
civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel responded with relentless bombardment and a ground offensive that haskilled at least 25,295 people, around 70 percent of them women, children andadolescents, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Those deaths have sparked widespread anger across the region and stokedviolence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.