The US-led strikes on the first day hit 28 sites and struck more than 60 targets with cruise missiles and bombs launched by fighter jets, warships and submarines on Friday. The United States said that the sites that were bombed included weapons depots, radars, and command centers, including remote mountainous areas.
The Houthis have not yet acknowledged the severity of the damage resulting from the strikes, which they said resulted in the death of five of their forces and the injury of six others.
US forces followed up with a strike on a Houthi radar site on Saturday.
Houthi supporters take part in a protest in Sanaa, Yemen, against US-led air strikes.credit: AP
Shipping traffic through the Red Sea slowed due to the attacks. On Friday, the US Navy asked ships flying the US flag to stay away from areas surrounding Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for 72 hours after the initial air strikes.
For their part, the Houthis claimed, without providing evidence, that the United States struck a site near Hodeidah on Sunday at around the same time it launched cruise missiles. The Americans and the UK did not admit to carrying out any strike – suggesting that the explosion may have been caused by an errant Houthi missile.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, saying they are retaliating for the Israeli offensive in Gaza against Hamas. But they have often targeted ships with fragile or no clear ties to Israel, endangering shipping on a major global trade route.
Although the Biden administration and its allies have tried to calm tensions in the Middle East for weeks and prevent any broader conflict, the strikes threatened to ignite conflict.
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Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government in exile that the Houthis are fighting, has sought to distance itself from attacks on Houthi positions as it tries to maintain a delicate detente with Iran and a ceasefire in Yemen.
The Saudi-led and US-backed war in Yemen, which began in 2015, has killed more than 150,000 people, including combatants and civilians, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
AP
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