US and Britain strike Houthi in Yemen, and the latter threaten to respond

The Yemeni Houthi group announced Friday that US and British forces launched 73 strikes on Yemen, killing five of its fighters.

In a statement, the group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said “the American-British enemy, in the context of its support for the continuation of the Israeli crimes in Gaza, launched a brutal aggression against Yemen with 73 strikes.”

Saree said the raids targeted “the capital Sanaa and the governorates of Hodeidah, Taiz, Hajjah, and Saada.”

These attacks led to the death of five Houthi fighters and the injury of six others, the spokesman added.

The US and UK carried out missile strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen Thursday night.

The strikes targeted multiple Houthi sites in Yemeni cities controlled by the Iranian-backed group and followed a string of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea on Israeli-bound vessels.

US President Joe Biden said on Friday he ordered the strikes “in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea.”

Yemen’s Houthi group said on Friday that all American-British interests have become “legitimate targets” for its forces after their “direct and declared aggression” against Yemen.

In a statement by the Supreme Political Council of the Houthis, the group said “the treacherous and blatant American-British aggression that the nation was subjected to is illegal and unjustified.”

The Houthis vowed that “all American-British interests have become legitimate targets for the Yemeni armed forces in response to their direct and declared aggression against the Republic of Yemen.”

Earlier, the Houthi-affiliated Saba News Agency reported that the US and UK aircraft carried out airstrikes on the Sanaa and Al Hudaydah, Sa’ada, and Dhamar governorates.

The attacks came hours after the leader of Yemen’s Houthi group, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, warned that anyone risking military action against his country would “pay the price,” stressing that any US aggression “will never go unanswered.”