Houthis launch fresh attacks on US, Israeli targets

Sanaa: Yemen’s Houthi group said on Wednesday that it had launched fresh attacks on a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea and “military targets” in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

“Our forces launched missile and drone attacks over the past few hours, targeting American warships in the Red Sea, including the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, from which the aggression against our country is launched,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

“The confrontation and engagement continued for several hours,” he said, vowing to confront the ongoing US airstrikes on Houthi-held areas in northern Yemen.

There was no comment yet from the US military, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Houthi military spokesperson said that his group also launched a fresh attack on Israel in the past few hours.

“In support of the Palestinian people in Gaza, we targeted military targets in Tel Aviv, using several drones,” he said, pledging to continue targeting Israeli cities and Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea until “the war on Gaza stops.”

Late Tuesday night, al-Masirah TV reported seven US airstrikes on Saada province, the Houthis’ main stronghold in northern Yemen. There were no reports of casualties.

The airstrikes are part of an ongoing US campaign against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, launched in mid-March.

Earlier on March 23, the US military stationed in the Red Sea conducted airstrikes on Yemen’s northern province of Saada, according to Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

The strikes targeted areas around the province’s namesake central city, Saada, a stronghold of the Houthis, the television reported, without providing further details.

The airstrikes followed claims by the Houthis, made a few hours earlier, that they had launched fresh attacks on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the northern Red Sea and the Ben Gurion airport in central Israel. The latter attack was reportedly intercepted by the Israeli army.

The exchanges of fire took place amid an ongoing air campaign launched by US forces in mid-March against Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen. The Houthi group, which controls much of northern Yemen after a civil war since 2014, has vowed to continue striking Israeli targets in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and to respond to what it describes as “American aggression.”

IANS