The Pentagon did not immediately release information about the latest strikes.
US military officials said in a statement that the military action came at the end of a week in which the Houthis carried out several daring attacks, including an attack on February 18 that damaged the MV Rubymar, a British-owned ship that was carrying 41,000 tons of fertilizer. statement. The attack created an 18-mile-long oil slick and forced the crew to abandon ship. The next day, February 19, the Houthis struck the MV Sea Champion, a US-owned ship that was carrying grain to the Yemeni port city of Aden.
The Houthis, a group of militants who took control of part of Yemen in 2014, have portrayed their campaign of violence as a response to Israeli military operations in Gaza and US support for Israel. US officials said the group obtains weapons and training from Iran, and is part of a broader network of proxy militias over which Tehran has influence.
But the ongoing cycle of Houthi attacks contrasts with the situation in Iraq and Syria, where US forces survived more than 150 attacks between October and February 4 but are now experiencing a period of relative calm. Following the killing of three American soldiers in northeastern Jordan on January 28, the Biden administration launched retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on February 3, hitting dozens of targets belonging to Iranian-backed militias that it blamed.
There have been no attacks against US forces in Iraq, Syria, or Jordan since February 4, but the Houthis have continued their campaign of violence. As of Friday, they had launched at least 57 attacks on commercial ships since November.
This is a developing story.
