Yemen vows response after US, UK attacks
Yemen said Sunday US and British air strikes “will not deter us,” and vowed a response after the two countries launched new joint air raids on the Arab country late Saturday.
It was the third time that British and American forces have jointly targeted Yemen, which has launched several attacks on Israel-bound ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war-stricken Gaza Strip.
The United States has also carried out a series of air raids on Yemen on its own.
Yemen spokesman for the country’s armed forces, Yahya Saree, said the capital Sana’a and other areas were targeted.
Saree reported a total of 48 air strikes, and said on social media platform X, “These attacks will not deter us from our… stance in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” where Israel’s onslaught has claimed the lives of more than 26,000 Palestinians since October 7.
The latest strikes “will not pass without response and punishment,” said Saree.
Iran denounced the Saturday strikes on Yemen, saying they “contradict” declared intentions by Washington and London to avoid a “wider conflict” in the Middle East.
These attacks are “in clear contradiction with the repeated claims of Washington and London that they do not want the expansion of war and conflict in the region,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement.
‘Fueling insecurity’
He accused the United States and Britain of “fueling chaos, disorder, insecurity and instability” by supporting Israel in its war on Gaza.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in a meeting with Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen Hans Grundberg in Tehran on Saturday, said the US military approach has complicated the situation in the region and created obstacles in the path toward a political solution to regional conflicts.
Amir-Abdollahian also slammed military attacks of the US and Britain against Yemen.
The United States, Britain and other countries that provided support for the operation claimed in a statement that the Saturday strikes hit 36 Ansarallah targets across 13 locations.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes are intended to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Ansarallah resistance movement to conduct their attacks.
Britain’s Defence Ministry said the Royal Air Force Typhoon warplanes struck two ground control stations used to operate attack and reconnaissance drones.
Austin said targets included “locations associated with the Houthis’ (Ansarallah) deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Supporting
Palestinians
Yemen’s armed forces began targeting Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
US and UK forces responded with strikes against Yemen, which has since declared US and UK interests to be legitimate targets as well. Anger over Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza has grown across the Middle East, sparking attacks on US and Israeli positions by resistance groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.