Houthis promise ‘strong and effective’ retaliation to US strike

Iran-backed Houthi rebels vowed fierce retaliation Saturday after the United States conducted an additional strike in Yemen.

“This new strike will have a firm, strong, and effective response,” Houthi spokesperson Nasruldeen Amer told Al Jazeera. 

Central Command said Friday the Navy destroyer USS Carney fired Tomahawk land missiles that struck a radar site controlled by the Tehran proxies to “degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels.”

The assault followed a larger air raid led by American and British forces Thursday night that pounded more than 60 Houthi-controlled targets across 28 locations in Yemen following a missile and drone strike campaign by the militant group against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea.

“These attacks have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized trade, and threatened freedom of navigation,” President Biden said after the first strikes. 

Thursday’s attack killed at least five people and wounded six, according to Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree.

Houthi forces fired off at least one anti-ship ballistic missile Friday in response to the US and U.K-led attack, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II told CNN.  

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said the strikes, including one that hit a military base in Sanaa, wouldn’t deter the rebels from continuing to carry out their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The rising tensions in the Red Sea add to the threat of a spreading Middle East conflict as a fallout of the Israel-Hamas war. 

Houthis claim that their assaults on shipping vessels have been in support of Palestinians as the Israeli military continues its offensive in Gaza, although many of the ships they have struck have had no known connection to Israel.

With Post wires.