US and UK Launch Round of Heavy Airstrikes on Yemen

Sixteen people were reported killed in the strikes

The US and the UK launched multiple airstrikes in Yemen, the first time the two countries launched a joint heavy bombing on the country in over three months.

Yemeni media reported that five airstrikes hit Yemen’s Red Sea province of Hodeida and that a radio building was hit in one of the strikes, and at least 16 people were killed and 35 wounded. A communications network in the neighboring Taiz province was also reported to be targeted.

US Central Command said that its forces “alongside UK Armed Forces conducted strikes against 13 Houthi targets” in Houthi-controlled Yemen, which is where most Yemenis live. CENTCOM said that it also conducted unilateral strikes that it claimed destroyed eight Houthi drones in Yemen and over the Red Sea.

The British Defense Ministry said that its forces “participated in a joint operation with US forces against Houthi military facilities to degrade their ability to persist with their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.”

The bombing marks the fifth time that the US and the UK launched joint airstrikes on Yemen since January. The US has also launched hundreds of unilateral strikes, which have done nothing to deter Houthi attacks on shipping that began in response to Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.

The latest round of US-UK airstrikes came after the Houthis struck a ship in the Red Sea and said they downed a US MQ-9 Reaper drone for the sixth time since November 2023. The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have made clear they will not stop their attacks until there is a ceasefire in Gaza and a lifting of the Israeli siege.

The US backed a brutal Saudi/UAE war against the Houthis from 2015-2022 that involved heavy airstrikes and a blockade, and the Houthis only became more of a capable fighting force during that time.

The war killed at least 377,000 people, with more than half dying of starvation and disease caused by the siege. A ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudis has held relatively well since April 2022, but new US sanctions are now blocking the implementation of a lasting peace deal.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.