Amid Red Sea raids, the US and the UK hit 18 Houthi targets in Yemen

Following a spike in assaults by the Iran-backed militia group on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, including a missile strike this past week that set fire to a cargo vessel, the US and Britain hit eighteen Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday.

US authorities claim that American and British fighter planes attacked missile launchers, air defense systems, drones, and rockets at eight different locations.

Since January 12, the US and British forces have collaborated on four separate occasions to combat the Houthis. However, the US has also been hitting Houthi targets almost every day, including approaching missiles, drones headed for ships, and weapons that were ready to fire.

According to sources, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, which is now in the Red Sea, is the launchpad for US F/A-18 fighter fighters.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “The United States will not hesitate to take action, as needed, to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the most critical waterways in the world.” He said, “We will keep letting the Houthis know that if they don’t stop their illegal attacks, they will pay the price.”

The Houthis pledged to continue their military campaign in retaliation and criticized the “US-British aggression.” The statement said, “The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that they will defend our country, our people, and our nation against the US-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arabian Seas.”

While refusing to get into details, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it was unclear at this point if the current negotiations will result in a hostage settlement and that Hamas, an Islamist terrorist organization, needed to “come down to a reasonable situation.”

In an interview, Netanyahu said that he would be meeting with aides later on Sunday to go over a dual military strategy that called for the evacuation of Gaza’s civilian population and the destruction of Hamas units that remained.

“If an agreement is reached, it will happen eventually, but it will take some time. We’ll proceed regardless of whether an agreement is reached,” he said to CBS.

Meanwhile, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the US, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar had agreed upon the “basic contours” of a hostage exchange for a short-term truce in Gaza.