US and Iran-backed Houthis each vow escalation after airstrikes goal rebels in Yemen | EUROtoday

The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are each vowing escalation after the U.S. launched airstrikes to discourage the rebels from attacking army and business vessels on one of many world’s busiest transport corridors.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry stated the in a single day U.S. strikes killed at the least 53 individuals, together with 5 ladies and two youngsters, and wounded virtually 100 within the capital of Sanaa and the northern province of Saada, the rebels’ stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.

“We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks.

President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” till the Houthis stop their assaults, and warned that Tehran could be held “fully accountable” for his or her actions.

The Houthis have repeatedly focused worldwide transport within the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they name acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, the place Israel has been at conflict with Hamas, one other Iranian ally.

The assaults stopped when a Israel-Hamas ceasefire took maintain in January — a day earlier than Trump took workplace — however final week the Houthis stated they’d renew assaults in opposition to Israeli vessels after Israel lower off the move of humanitarian assist to Gaza this month.

There have been no Houthi assaults reported since then.

The in a single day airstrikes had been probably the most in depth assaults in opposition to the Houthis because the conflict in Gaza started in October 2023.

Trump’s nationwide safety adviser, Michael Waltz, on Sunday instructed ABC that the strikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.” He did not determine them or give proof. Rubio stated some Houthi services had been destroyed.

The Houthis’ political bureau has stated the rebels will reply to the U.S. strikes and “meet escalation with escalation.”

The rebels on Sunday claimed to have focused the USS Harry S. Truman provider strike group with missiles and a drone, however two U.S. officers instructed The Associated Press they weren’t monitoring something. The officers spoke on situation of anonymity to debate army operations.

The spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a press release referred to as for “utmost restraint and a cessation of all military activities,” whereas warning of the “grave risks” to the dire humanitarian state of affairs in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation.

Rubio stated that over the previous 18 months the Houthis had attacked the U.S. Navy “directly” 174 occasions and focused business transport 145 occasions utilizing “guided precision anti-ship weaponry.”

The assaults sparked essentially the most severe fight the U.S. Navy had seen since World War II.

On Sunday, the top of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, denied his nation was concerned within the Houthis’ assaults, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant teams it’s allied with throughout the area, based on state-run TV.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on X, urged the U.S. to halt its airstrikes and stated Washington can not dictate Iran’s international coverage.

The U.S. and others have lengthy accused Iran of offering army assist to the rebels. The U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made missile elements and different weaponry it stated was sure for the Houthis.

The United States, Israel and Britain beforehand hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, however the brand new operation was performed solely by the U.S. It was the primary strike on the Houthis below the second Trump administration.

The USS Harry S. Truman provider strike group, which incorporates the provider, three Navy destroyers and one cruiser, is within the Red Sea and was a part of the mission. The USS Georgia cruise missile submarine has additionally been working within the area.

___

Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, and Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP’s conflict protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war