The Pentagon said Wednesday that the U.S. took out two Houthi missiles about to launch toward the Red Sea, where the group has been targeting cargo ships.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it “conducted strikes against two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch” at around 2:30 a.m. local time Wednesday.
“U.S. forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region,” CENTCOM said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “U.S. forces subsequently struck and destroyed the missiles in self-defense.”
The U.S. and the U.K. conducted large-scale strikes against the Houthis on Monday, using ships and warplanes to take “proportionate and necessary strikes” against eight Houthi targets in Yemen that included an underground weapons storage site and missile systems and launchers.
Some Houthi sites that were struck had multiple targets, a senior military official told reporters.
“At this point, we do assess that the strike was successful and achieved the desired effect of removing these capabilities from the Houthis,” they said.
Monday’s bombings were supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands and signified an increase in action versus the Houthis, who are supported by Iran and said they will continue their attacks in the Red Sea in protest of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip.
The current war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas has now lasted more than 100 days, beginning in early October with a Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis. More than 25,000 people in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s subsequent strikes, according to local health officials.