By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and British forces carried out strikes on Saturday against more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen, officials said, in the latest wave of military action against the Iran-linked group that continues to attack shipping in the region.
The United States has carried out almost daily strikes against the Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, and has said their attacks on ships are in solidarity with the Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza.
The strikes have so far failed to stop the Houthis, which have disrupted global trade and raised shipping rates.
A joint statement from countries that took part in the attacks or provided support said the military action was against 18 Houthi targets in eight locations in Yemen, including underground weapons and missile depots, air defense systems, radars and a helicopter.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes were intended to “disrupt and further degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia.”
“We will continue to make clear to the Houthis that they will suffer the consequences if they do not stop their unlawful attacks, which damage Middle Eastern economies, cause environmental damage and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries,” Austin said. .
The strikes were supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement, said on Saturday that US and British forces carried out a series of attacks in the capital Sanaa.
It quoted an anonymous Houthi military source as saying the new raids were “a miserable attempt to prevent Yemen from providing support operations to the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Earlier this week the Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on a UK-owned merchant ship and a drone assault on an American destroyer, and targeted the Israeli port and tourist city of Eilat with ballistic missiles and drones.
The group’s attacks are disrupting the vital Suez Canal shortcut that accounts for about 12% of global shipping traffic, forcing a longer and more expensive route around Africa.
No ships were sunk nor crew killed during the Houthi campaign. However there are concerns over the fate of the UK-registered cargo ship Rubymar, which was hit on February 18 and her crew evacuated. The US military said the Rubymar was carrying more than 41,000 tonnes of fertilizer when it was hit, which could spill into the Red Sea and cause an environmental disaster.
The European Union has launched a naval mission in the Red Sea “to restore and safeguard freedom of navigation”.
The United States has a parallel coalition, Operation Prosperity Guardian, aimed at safeguarding commercial traffic from Houthi attacks.