প্রকাশ: 04/02/2024
The United States and
Britain struck dozens of targets in Yemen on Saturday in response to repeated
attacks on shipping by Iran-backed Huthi rebels that have disrupted global
trade and put lives at risk.
The joint air raids in
Yemen come a day after a separate wave of unilateral American strikes against
Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria that were carried out in response to the
killing of three US soldiers in Jordan on January 28.
It is the third time
that British and American forces have jointly targeted the Huthis and the
United States has also carried out a series of air raids against them on its
own, but the rebels' attacks have persisted.
The latest strikes hit
"36 Huthi targets across 13 locations in Yemen in response to the Huthis'
continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as
naval vessels transiting the Red Sea," the United States, Britain and
other countries that provided support for the operation said in a statement.
US Defense Secretary
Lloyd Austin said the strikes "are intended to further disrupt and degrade
the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Huthi militia to conduct their reckless
and destabilizing attacks."
"Coalition forces
targeted 13 locations associated with the Huthis' deeply buried weapons storage
facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and
radars," he said in a statement.
Neither Austin nor the
joint statement identified the specific places that were hit, but the Huthis'
Al-Massirah television said Sanaa and other locations were targeted.
Meeting 'escalation with escalation' –
Britain's Defense
Ministry said Royal Air Force Typhoon warplanes struck targets including two
ground control stations used to operate both attack and reconnaissance drones.
US forces earlier
Saturday separately carried out strikes against six Huthi anti-ship missiles
that were "prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea," the
Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
The military command
also said Saturday that US forces shot down eight drones in and near Yemen the
day before and destroyed four more before they could be launched.
The Huthis began
targeting Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked
vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the
Israel-Hamas war.
US and UK forces
responded with strikes against the Huthis, who have since declared American and
British interests to be legitimate targets as well.
Huthi spokesman Nasr
al-Din Amer said following the Saturday strikes that "either there is
peace for us, Palestine and Gaza, or there is no peace and no safety for you in
our region."
"We will meet the
escalation with escalation," he wrote on social media.
- Strikes in Iraq, Syria –
Anger over Israel's
devastating campaign in Gaza -- which began after an unprecedented Hamas attack
on October 7 -- has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving
Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Last weekend, a drone
slammed into a base in Jordan, killing three US soldiers and wounding more than
40 -- an attack Washington blamed on Iran-backed forces.
US and allied troops
have been attacked more than 165 times in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since
mid-October, but the soldiers killed on January 28 were the first to die from
hostile fire in the Middle East during that period.
The United States
responded Friday with strikes against dozens of targets at seven Tehran-linked
facilities in Iraq and Syria, but did not hit Iranian territory.
Both the Iraqi and
Syrian governments condemned the Friday strikes, while Tehran said they would
"have no result other than intensifying tension and instability."
Diplomatic sources meanwhile
said the UN Security Council would convene Monday, after Russia called for a
meeting "over the threat to peace and safety created by US strikes on
Syria and Iraq."
But British Foreign
Secretary David Cameron has said Tehran is ultimately responsible for the
violence, telling the Sunday Times in an interview that "we need to send
the clearest possible signal to Iran that what they're doing through their
proxies is unacceptable."
"You created them,
you backed them, you financed them, you provided them with weapons, and you
will ultimately be held accountable for what they do," Cameron said.
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