US strikes Houthi targets in Yemen and tightens retaliation for attacks by Iran-backed groups

The Houthis were aiming 10 different locations attacked by American F/A-18 fighter jets US officials said Tomahawk missiles were fired from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and by US warships in the Red Sea.

The USS Gravely and USS Carney, both Navy destroyers, launched the missiles, according to those officials.

Saturday’s attacks marked the third time the United States and Britain launched a major joint operation to target Houthi weapons launchers, radar sites and drones. But the Houthis have made it clear that they have no intention of stopping their attacks.

On Friday, F/A-18s of the American destroyer Laboon and Eisenhower They shot down seven drones fired from areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthis Toward the Red Sea, the destroyer Carney shot down a drone fired in the Gulf of Aden, and U.S. forces destroyed four more drones ready for takeoff.

Hours before the latest joint operation, the United States carried out another self-defense attack on a site in Yemen, destroying six anti-ship cruise missiles, as it has done repeatedly when it has prepared missiles for launch. Or the drone has been detected.

An Iraqi militia officer on Saturday signaled a desire to ease tensions in the Middle East following retaliatory strikes launched by the United States against dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iran-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Hussein al-Mosawi, a spokesman for Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the main Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, condemned the US strikes in an interview with the AP in Baghdad and He said Washington must “understand that every action provokes a reaction.” But then he adopted a more cordial tone, saying, “We do not want to escalate or escalate regional tensions.”

Mosavi said most of the locations attacked in Iraq were “devoid of fighters and military personnel at the time of the attack.”

Syrian state media reported casualties in the attacks, but did not provide any figures. Rami Abdurahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 23 people were killed, all of whom were grassroots fighters.

Iraqi government spokesman Basim al-Awadi said in a statement on Saturday that 16 people killed in attacks in Iraq near the Syrian border, Including citizens. He said there was “significant damage” to homes and personal property.

A US official also said on Saturday that preliminary damage assessments showed that the United States had hit all of its planned targets, in addition to Some “dynamic objectives” that emerged as the mission evolved, Which includes surface-to-air missile sites and drone launches. The officials, who provided information on condition of anonymity because it was not yet public, had not made any assessment of the victims at the time.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry announced that it would call the US Embassy’s charge d’affaires (the ambassador is out of the country) to lodge a formal protest over US attacks on “Iraqi military and civilian sites”. The United States said Friday that it had informed Iraq of the impending attacks before they began.

The airstrike was the initial US response to a drone strike that killed three US soldiers in Jordan last weekend. The United States has blamed the Islamic resistance in Iraq, a coalition of militias backed by Iran.