Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have launched a missile attack against the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea this morning following US and UK-led bombing operations overnight.
The attack was a response to what Houthi general Yahya Saree called the ‘American-British aggression’ – airstrikes overnight which killed 16 people and wounded 41 others, including civilians, according to the group.
Winged and ballistic missiles had been used in the attack on the US warship, the military spokesperson said without providing evidence, adding that ‘the hits were accurate and direct’.
He warned that the rebels would ‘meet escalation with escalation’, and vowed that their forces would ‘not hesitate to respond directly and immediately’ to ‘all hostile American and British targets in the Red and Arabian Seas.’
A U.S. defense official responded to the claims saying they were not aware of any attack on the Eisenhower.
The U.S. and British militaries said they launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Thursday to deter the militant group from further disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.
The U.S. Central Command said coalition forces had hit 13 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the attack was a response to recent US and UK-led bombing operations
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier transits the Strait of Gibraltar, October 28, 2023
Houthi supporters hold up their weapons during a protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people, in Sana’a, Yemen, May 24, 2024
The British defence ministry said the joint operation targeted three locations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, which it said housed drones and surface-to-air weapons.
The coalition strikes targeted the port of Salif, a radio building in Al-Hawk district, Ghalifa camp and two houses, according to the Houthis.
Houthi-allied Iran condemned the strikes as ‘violations of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity… international laws and human rights’, Iranian state media reported.
‘The aggressor U.S. and British governments are responsible for the consequences of these crimes against the Yemeni people,’ Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.
The Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital and most populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas, drawing retaliatory U.S. and British strikes since February.
They have so far launched more than 50 attacks, killed three sailors, seized one vessel and sunk another, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.