US, Britain hit targets in Yemen as Huthis vow to strike back
Yemen's Huthis on Tuesday over their attacks on Red Sea shipping, as the Iran-backed rebels vowed to hit back.
The latest raids, heard by residents of the rebel-held capital Sanaa around midnight (2100 GMT), hit eight Huthi targets, a joint US-UK statement said, while the Huthis listed 18 strikes across their territory.
US and British forces carried out a first wave of strikes against the rebel group earlier this month, and the United States launched further air raids against missiles that Washington said posed imminent threats to both civilian and military vessels.
But the Huthis have vowed to continue their attacks — just one part of a growing crisis in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Hamas war, which has raised fears of a broader war directly involving Iran.
The latest strikes were against «eight Huthi targets in Yemen in response to the Huthis' continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea», Washington and London said in a joint statement with other countries that supported the military action.
«These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Huthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners,» the statement said.
The US Central Command said in a separate statement that the targets of the strikes «included missile systems and launchers, air defence systems, radars, and deeply buried weapons storage facilities».
— Attacks won't go 'unpunished' -
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the Huthis had carried out more than 12 attacks on shipping since the first wave of joint strikes on January 11.
«What we have done again is send the clearest possible message that we will
