Sanaa:

Yemen’s Houthi rebels say that they have launched a missile strike on a United States aircraft carrier in the Red Sea in retaliation for recent deadly strikes by the US and UK in Yemen, Al Jazeera reported.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced the attack on the Eisenhower carrier on Friday, following earlier claims by the group that at least 16 people were killed in US and UK assaults on Yemen’s Hodeidah province. This marks the highest publicly acknowledged death count from multiple rounds of strikes linked to the group’s alleged assaults on shipping.

Al Masirah television, a Houthi-controlled channel, broadcasted footage showing wounded civilians being treated in Hodeidah, revealing the fallout from Thursday’s attacks. At least 42 people were reported injured.

“The American-British aggression will not prevent us from continuing our military operations in support of Palestine,” Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said on X, warning that the rebels would “meet escalation with escalation”.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that attacks on 13 Houthi targets resulted in the destruction of eight uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and over the Red Sea, according to Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defence stated that Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s conducted strikes on Hodeidah and Ghulayfiqah. It described targets as “buildings identified as housing drone ground control facilities and providing storage for very long-range drones, as well as surface-to-air weapons”.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the military action as a form of “self-defence in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose”.

The Houthi movement, aligned with Iran, controls significant portions of Yemen after nearly a decade of conflict against a Western-backed and Saudi-led coalition. They have vocally supported Palestinians amid Israel’s ongoing conflict in Gaza, launching repeated drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb strait, and the Gulf of Aden since November.

Iran condemned the US-UK strikes as “violations of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity … international laws and human rights”, Al Jazeera reported, citing, Iranian state media.

“The aggressor US and British governments are responsible for the consequences of these crimes against the Yemeni people,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.

According to the US Maritime Administration, Houthis have launched over 50 attacks on shipping, resulting in casualties, vessel seizures, and disruptions to global trade routes. The campaign has forced shipping firms to seek alternative routes, impacting approximately 12 per cent of global trade that traverses the Red Sea.

Despite retaliatory strikes by the US and UK aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities, the rebels have continued their assaults. In their latest actions, they targeted a Greek-owned bulk carrier and other vessels in response to Israeli strikes on Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

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London:

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to protect British interests abroad after the Royal Air Force (RAF) carried out strikes against Houthi rebels.

The UK and US forces struck Houthi targets in Yemen in the fifth combined operation since January.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed strikes took place against the Houthis on Thursday as part of a response to Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

In a statement on Friday morning, Sunak said, “Last night, the RAF successfully conducted a fifth set of strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen alongside the US.”

“These strikes were conducted to further degrade the military capabilities of the Houthis and to prevent further attacks on international shipping.”

“The strikes were taken in self-defence in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose.”

Asked whether this new round of strikes risked escalation with Iran, Sunak said, “We have always said that we will not hesitate to protect British interests abroad and at home.”

“There is an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose, 197 attacks since November, all our intelligence indicates that previous sets of strikes have been successful in degrading the military capabilities of the Houthis: targeting supply, command and control launch sites for missiles and there is also a risk in inaction that would damage the global economy and further risk our international security.”

The MoD said intelligence had confirmed two locations near Hudaydah as being involved with the anti-shipping attacks, with buildings identified as housing drone ground control facilities and providing storage for very long-range drones.

Surface-to-air weapons used to impede coalition operations to safeguard shipping in the region were also believed to be on-site.

A set of Houthi facilities at Ghulayfiqah, further south on the Yemeni coast, were also identified as being involved in the command and control of the group’s anti-shipping campaign.

RAF Typhoon FGR4s conducted strikes on the target buildings at the three locations, using Paveway IV guided bombs.

The MoD said the “utmost care” was taken in planning the strikes to “minimise any risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure.”

Two people were killed, and ten others injured in one of the strikes, according to the Houthis’ Al Masirah satellite news.

This is the fifth time the US and UK militaries have conducted a combined operation against the Houthis since January 12.

The Houthis, in recent months, have stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians.

The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration.

The attacks have disrupted shipping routes in the region.

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Dubai/Cairo:

Yemen’s Houthis said they targeted the MSC Orion container ship in a drone attack in the Indian Ocean as part of their ongoing campaign against international shipping in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Portugal-flagged MSC Orion was sailing between the ports in Sines, Portugal and Salalah, Oman and its registered owner is Zodiac Maritime, according to LSEG data.

Zodiac is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November, forcing shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around Southern Africa and stoking fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread and destabilise the Middle East.

In March, the group’s leader said the group was expanding its attack area to prevent Israel-linked ships from passing through the Indian Ocean toward the Cape of Good Hope.

The Iran-affiliated group also targeted the Cyclades commercial vessel as well as two U.S. destroyers in the Red Sea, its spokesman said in a televised address early on Tuesday.

British maritime security firm Ambrey reported earlier that a Malta-flagged container ship on Monday said it was targeted by three missiles while en route from Djibouti to the Saudi city of Jeddah. The Houthis said the Cyclades was on that route when they attacked the vessel.

Ambrey assessed that the ship was targeted due to its listed operator’s ongoing trade with Israel, it said in an advisory note.

The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in retaliation for their attacks on vessels.

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Washington:

 The U.S. military said on Thursday that it had destroyed four unmanned drones launched by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen.

The U.S. Central Command said on the social media site X that the drones “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region.”

The drones were aimed at a coalition vessel and a U.S. warship and “were engaged in self defense over the Red Sea,” the statement from the U.S. Central Command said, adding there were no injuries or damage reported to the U.S. or coalition ships.

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Cairo:

Ships will have to obtain a permit from Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Maritime Affairs Authority before entering Yemeni waters, Houthi Telecommunications Minister Misfer Al-Numair said on Monday.

Houthi militants have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against international commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

The near-daily attacks have forced firms into long and costly diversions around southern Africa, and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could destabilise the wider Middle East. The United States and Britain have bombed Houthi targets in response.

The territorial waters affected by the Yemeni order extend halfway out into the 20-km (12-mile) wide Bab al-Mandab Strait, the narrow mouth of the Red Sea through which around 15% of the world’s shipping traffic passes on its way to or from the Suez Canal.

“(We) are ready to assist requests for permits and identify ships with the Yemeni Navy, and we confirm this is out of concern for their safety,” Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, reported Al-Numair as saying.

Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications said on Monday that at least four underwater communications cables – Asia-Africa-Europe 1, the Europe India Gateway, Seacom and TGN-Gulf – had been damaged last week in the Red Sea, without stating the cause.

It estimated that the damage had affected 25% of the data traffic flowing under the Red Sea, and said in a statement that it had devised a plan to reroute traffic.

Al-Numair’s ministry on Saturday blamed U.S. and British attacks for any damage to cables.

In the latest incident, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said on Monday it had received a report that a vessel had been damaged by two explosions, 91 nautical miles southeast of Aden, but there were no casualties and the vessel was proceeding to its next port of call.

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Washington:

American and British forces carried out a fresh wave of strikes Saturday against 18 Huthi targets in Yemen, a joint statement said, following weeks of unrelenting attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed rebels.

The strikes “specifically targeted 18 Huthi targets across eight locations in Yemen associated with Houthi underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities, one-way attack unmanned aerial systems, air defense systems, radars, and a helicopter,” said the joint statement.

The statement was co-signed by Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand, who gave unspecified “support” to the new round of strikes, the second this month and fourth since the rebels began their attacks on ships in the region.

“The Huthis’ now more than 45 attacks on commercial and naval vessels since mid-November constitute a threat to the global economy, as well as regional security and stability, and demand an international response,” the statement said.

Saturday’s operation comes after several merchant vessels were struck this week in the region, including the fertilizer-filled Rubymar, whose crew had to abandon ship after it was hit Sunday and began taking on water.

Apart from the joint operations with Britain, the United States has also carried out repeated unilateral strikes against Huthi positions and weaponry in Yemen, claiming self-defense, and has downed air and sea-borne drones in the Red Sea.

“The United States will not hesitate to take action, as needed, to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a separate statement after the strikes.

“We will continue to make clear to the Huthis that they will bear the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks, which harm Middle Eastern economies, cause environmental damage, and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries.”

The Huthis say they are targeting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war.

Following previous US and UK strikes, the Huthis declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.

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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)