US continues barrage of missile strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen

• The US military has continued its barrage of missile strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
• The strikes are a response to ongoing Houthi attacks on shipping vessels traversing the Red Sea.
• A military expert told BI a single series of strikes likely won't deter the Houthis.

The US military early Saturday continued its barrage of air strikes on Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen in response to attacks by the rebel group on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea, two US officials said.

Associated Press journalists in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, heard one loud explosion.

The first day of strikes began on Friday, hitting 28 locations and striking more than 60 targets. However, the US determined that an additional location, a radar site, still threatened maritime traffic, one official said.

The officials spoke anonymously to the AP to discuss an operation that hadn't yet been publicly announced.

President Joe Biden had warned Friday that the Houthis could face further strikes.

Western warships from the US and UK have been fighting back against Houthi strikes for the last several months, as the Houthi militia in November began targeting commercial cargo vessels in the region in response to Israel's declaration of war against Hamas.

The Houthis have pledged to continue their attacks in support of the Hamas terrorist group based in the Palestinian territories against ships that are in any way associated with Israel, per the international affairs think tank, the Atlantic Council. However, per PBS, multiple strikes have hit vessels with no known ties to Israel.

The latest strike came after the US Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the US and Britain launched multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels.

Yemen's Houthis vowed fierce retaliation for the US-led strikes, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel's war in Gaza.

US military and White House officials said they expected the Houthis to try to strike back.

"We will make sure that we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies," Biden told reporters during a stop in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

'If you don't stop, we're going to keep doing this'

Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian army and a military strategist, told BI these strikes aren't inherently escalatory. Instead, they're a response to Houthi escalation and tensions in the region, and it will take far more than a single series of strikes to deter Houthi forces from continuing their attacks on the commercial ships.

"At the end of the day, one series of strikes is not going to destroy the Houthis' ability to interfere with shipping, so it's going to probably have to be a series of strikes and probably some negotiation — saying if you don't stop, we're going to keep doing this," Ryan told BI.

He added: "There's probably going to have to be a stick-and-carrot approach to the Houthis. Whether the carrot works is another question."

The Pentagon said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the latest military action from the hospital where he is recovering from complications following prostate cancer surgery.

Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday's US strikes were largely in low-populated areas, and the number of those killed would not be high. He said the strikes hit weapons, radar, and targeting sites in remote mountain areas.

The Houthis' military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a recorded address that the US strikes would "not go unanswered or unpunished."

Though the Biden administration and its allies have tried to calm tensions in the Middle East for weeks to prevent any wider conflict, the strikes threatened to ignite one.

It remained unclear how extensive the damage was from Friday's strikes, though the Houthis said at least five sites, including airfields, had been attacked. The White House said the US military was still assessing the extent the militants' capabilities might have been degraded.

In Yemen, Hussein al-Ezzi, a Houthi official in their Foreign Ministry, said, "America and Britain will undoubtedly have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences of this blatant aggression."