Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that U.S. B-2 bombers and other aircraft have intercepted five underground Houthi weapons caches in parts of Yemen held by Iranian-backed rebels. He said he had attacked.
Austin said the facility had been fortified and contained “various weapon components of the type that the Houthis have used to target civilian vessels and military vessels throughout the region.”
Houthi rebels attacked civilian ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The group is suspected of carrying out an attack in August.
This is the first time the United States has used B-2 bombers, also known as stealth bombers, in an attack against the Houthis in Yemen, a U.S. official told NBC News.
“This demonstrates the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of their reach, no matter how deeply buried, fortified, or fortified they are,” Austin said in a statement. It was a unique demonstration.”
The Iranian-backed Houthi militia, which has captured parts of Yemen, has fired missiles and drones and launched other attacks against shipping in response to the Gaza war. The Houthis have expressed support for the terrorist organization Hamas.
$1 trillion in goods flows through the Red Sea annually. Some shippers responded to the attacks late last year by suspending services in the Red Sea.
The United States first launched airstrikes against Houthi weapons in January in response to attacks on commercial ships by the group.
Austin said he authorized Wednesday’s strike at the direction of President Joe Biden.
Austin said the strikes were aimed at “continuing the Houthis’ destabilizing actions and further diminishing their ability to protect and defend U.S. forces and personnel in one of the world’s most important waterways.” said.
The Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014. The protracted conflict has created extreme hardship. The United Nations has called Yemen’s humanitarian crisis the world’s largest, saying more than 18 million people depend on humanitarian aid.
