The United States has said it will continue to launch airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi faction until it stops targeting Israel-linked ships, following a series of U.S. attacks that killed at least 53 people.
The Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, have been attacking ships in the Red Sea with links to Israel since Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2023. The group said on Wednesday that it would again begin targeting Israeli vessels despite the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, with the U.S. launching airstrikes in response over the weekend.
“The minute the Houthis say ‘we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones’, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
U.S. President Donald Trump also demanded on social media that Iran halt its support for the Houthis, writing: “To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!”
“If they continue their aggression, we will continue the escalation,” said Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
U.S. airstrikes targeted the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, as well as Houthi military sites in the city of Taiz and a power station in the northwestern Saada region.
At least 53 people were killed and 98 injured during the U.S. attacks, according to Yemen’s Houthi-run Health Ministry.
U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said the strikes killed several Houthi leaders, though the Houthis did not confirm this.
The Houthi military has said that it targeted a set of U.S. warships and an aircraft carrier in response. The U.S. said it had shot down 11 Houthi drones, none of which had flown close to the aircraft carrier.
The Houthis said they would resume targeting ships with links to Israel after Israel began blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza earlier this month. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Houthis have attacked U.S. warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023.
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