US launches second night of airstrikes against Houthis

The United States launched another round of airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen early Saturday morning local time.

The round of strikes comes just one day after an inaugural round of air and missile strikes against targets in Yemen, launched in response to Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. Two United States officials announced the Friday strikes, the New York Times reported.

This second round of strikes targeted a Houthi radar facility. A Pentagon official said the second round of strikes was meant to be a continuation of the first, the outlet reported.

In this image provided by the UK Ministry of Defence taken on Thursday Jan. 11, 2024 shows an RAF Typhoon aircraft taking off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, for a mission to strike targets in Yemen. (Sgt Lee Goddard, UK Ministry of Defence via AP)

Another U.S. official told CNN that Friday’s strikes were much more limited in scope than the previous day, only targeting the radar facility. Unlike Thursday’s strikes, which involved the U.K., Friday’s was carried out unilaterally by the U.S.

Though the official said only one radar station was targeted, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah news network reported “a number of airstrikes” around the capital of Sanaa.

“The American-British enemy is targeting the capital, Sanaa, with a number of airstrikes,” the network announced early on Saturday, local time, though only the U.S. carried out the attack.

President Joe Biden had threatened to respond if the Houthis continued their strikes on commercial shipping.

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“We will make sure we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies,” he said Friday in Pennsylvania. 

The Houthis vowed a response after Thursday’s strikes, though the only direct military action was launching an anti-ship missile into the Gulf of Aden, which fell into the sea without hitting anything.

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