The American military has destroyed a Houthi cruise missile off the coast of Yemen that was intended to be fired against ships in the Red Sea.
U.S. Central Command said the “self-defense strike” was carried out about 4 a.m. local time (8 p.m. EST) before the order took effect.
“U.S. forces have identified the cruise missile in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen and determined that it poses an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” it said.
“This action will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer for U.S. Navy vessels and commercial vessels.”
A fighter jet is seen taking off from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on Saturday evening, striking 36 Iranian-backed targets in Yemen
A Tomahawk land-attack missile is fired from the USS Gravely at Houthi targets on Saturday evening
A view of a truck loaded with weapons as Houthi tribesmen gather to show resistance following US and British airstrikes on Houthi positions near Sanaa, Yemen
Another dramatic photo shows a British RAF Typhoon jet taking part in the attacks by the US and its allies on Saturday
The missile was destroyed hours after the United States and Britain struck 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday in a second wave of attacks aimed at further disabling Iran-backed proxy militias.
The additional attacks are a clear signal to the Iranian-backed militia, said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“These attacks are aimed at further disrupting and weakening the Iranian-backed Houthi militia’s ability to conduct its reckless and destabilizing attacks against U.S. and international vessels lawfully transiting the Red Sea,” Austin said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
“Coalition forces targeted 13 sites linked to the Houthis' deeply buried weapons caches, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems and radars,” he said.
Adding: “This collective action sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to face further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels.”
A British aircraft engineer checks a missile on a Typhoon ahead of Saturday night's attacks
On Saturday, images appeared on social media that appeared to show recent attacks on Houthi targets
No official images of the attacks have yet been made available
The additional attacks are a clear signal to the Iranian-backed militia, said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
Officials said the cruise missiles were fired in response to movements by an Iran-backed rebel group that was preparing to attack more ships in the Red Sea, a day after the U.S. also shot down at least eight drones in the region.
The latest strikes, which Biden authorized earlier this week, came the day after an airstrike in Iraq and Syria that targeted other Iran-backed groups and Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
It marks an escalation in the conflict in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US soldiers in Jordan last weekend.
Officials told the Associated Press that the attacks targeted groups that have relentlessly attacked American and international interests in the Israel-Hamas war.
The Houthi targets were in 10 different locations and were attacked by U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and by American warships firing Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea, U.S. officials said. Officer.
Saturday's latest attacks come as the U.S. military expands its presence in the Middle East, raising the possibility of further conflict as the U.S. military now fights wars on two fronts.
A satellite photo of a military base called Tower 22, a Jordanian base that was attacked by a bomb-carrying drone, killing three US soldiers. The damage can be seen in the middle left of the photo
Houthi tribesmen gather to show resistance after US and British airstrikes on Houthi positions near Sanaa, Yemen
In addition to addressing Houthis' transport disruptions in Yemen, military leaders are also focusing on Iranian proxies who continue to attack U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria and Jordan
The United Kingdom said the recent attacks were about protecting innocent lives.
“The Houthis' attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea are illegal and unacceptable and it is our duty to protect innocent lives and uphold freedom of navigation,” British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said on Saturday evening.
In addition to addressing Houthis' transport disruptions in Yemen, military leaders are also focusing on Iranian proxies who continue to attack U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria and Jordan.
This came after an Iraqi militia official suggested on Saturday that he wanted to defuse tensions in the Middle East following US retaliatory strikes.
Hussein al-Mosawi, spokesman for Harakat al-Nujaba, one of Iraq's largest Iran-backed militias, told The Associated Press that Washington “must understand that every action provokes a reaction.”
While the military official condemned the US actions, he added: “We do not want to escalate or expand regional tensions.”
Mosawi said the target locations in Iraq were largely “devoid of fighters and military personnel” at the time of the attack.
Syrian state media reported casualties from the attacks but did not give a number. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 23 people, all rank-and-file fighters, were killed.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden greet service members before boarding Air Force One after participating in the repatriation of the three service members killed in the attack
The strikes are in retaliation for the death of Spc. Kennedy Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers (center) and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett (right), who was killed by a drone strike at her base in Jordan near the Syrian border on Sunday, January 28, 2024
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (left), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown and Marine Corp. Sgt. Maj. Troy E. Black watches as an Army transportation team transports the flag-draped transfer case containing the remains of three service members killed in an Iran-backed attack
An Army transport team loads the distribution box with the remains of the three service members whose deaths sparked several waves of retaliation
Iraqi government spokesman Bassim al-Awadi said in a statement on Saturday that the attacks in Iraq near the Syrian border killed 16 people, including civilians, and caused “significant damage” to homes and private properties be.
A U.S. official said Saturday that an initial battle damage assessment showed the U.S. hit every one of its planned targets, in addition to some “dynamic targets” that emerged as the mission progressed.
These new targets included a surface-to-air missile site and drone launch sites. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public, did not yet have an assessment of what happened.
Iraq's foreign ministry said Saturday it would invite the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy – the ambassador is outside the country – to lodge a formal protest against U.S. attacks on “Iraqi military and civilian sites.”
The US said on Friday it had informed Iraq of the impending attacks before the attacks began.
The airstrike was the first salvo in U.S. retaliation for a drone strike that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan last weekend. The US blames the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of militias supported by Iran.
Iran, meanwhile, has sought to distance itself from the attack, saying the militias operate independently of its direction.
Iraqi spokesman al-Awadi condemned the attacks as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, particularly because some of them targeted Population Mobilization Forces facilities.
U.S. officials said they had informed Iraq of the impending attacks before the attacks began on Friday. Pictured is US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
The PMF, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias, was officially brought under the umbrella of the Iraqi armed forces after joining the fight against the Islamic State in 2014. In practice, however, it continues to operate largely outside government control.
The Popular Mobilization Forces said in a statement on Saturday that one of the sites attacked was an official security headquarters of the group.
In addition to the 16 dead, 36 people were injured “while the search for the bodies of some missing people is still ongoing.”
The Iraqi government has been in a delicate situation since a group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias calling themselves the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, many of whom are also members of the PMF, launched attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq on October 18 began in Syria.
The group described the attacks as retaliation for Washington's support of Israel in the Gaza war.
Behind the scenes, Iraqi officials have tried to contain the militias. At the same time, they condemned the US retaliatory strikes as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and called for the withdrawal of the 2,500 US soldiers who are in the country as part of an international coalition to fight IS.
Last month, Iraqi and U.S. military officials began formal talks to end the coalition's presence, a process that is likely to take years.
One of the main Iran-backed militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said it had stopped attacks on American troops after Sunday's attack that killed U.S. troops in Jordan so as not to “embarrass” the Iraqi government. .
Meanwhile, the US military's Central Command admitted on Saturday that there had been a series of skirmishes with Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. On Friday, the USS Carney shot down a drone over the Gulf of Aden and there were no injuries or damage.
The U.S. also carried out airstrikes on four Houthi drones that were preparing to take off and which it said “posed an imminent threat to commercial and U.S. Navy vessels in the region.”
On Saturday, Central Command said it had hit six more anti-ship cruise missiles that it said were ready for launch and posed an imminent threat.
Overnight, F/A-18 fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with the USS Laboon, shot down seven drones in the Red Sea.