Yemen’s Houthis launched a missile attack on the U.S. aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Red Sea, in response to U.S.-U.K. strikes on the Yemeni provinces of Sanaa, Hodeidah and Taiz, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement on Friday.
Houthi-run al-Masirah TV earlier reported that warplanes of the United States and Britain launched airstrikes on several Yemeni cities on Thursday night, causing damage to buildings and killing 16 people in Hodeidah.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to respond directly and immediately to every new aggression on Yemeni territories by targeting all sources of threat and all hostile American and British targets in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea,” Saree said.
The Houthis began last November to launch anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones targeting what they said were Israeli-linked ships transiting the Red Sea to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In response, the U.S.-British naval coalition stationed in the waters has since January conducted regular air raids and missile strikes against Houthi targets to deter the group, but this has only led to an expansion of Houthi attacks to include U.S. and British commercial vessels and naval ships.
