U.S. strikes Houthi targets in Yemen in escalating campaign

The U.S. military carried out fresh airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, the U.S. Central Command said Tuesday, the latest in an escalating campaign against the Iran-backed militants by Israel and its allies.

U.S. Central Command said it struck the capital, Sanaa, and coastal locations within Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen on Monday and Tuesday, including a command and control facility and sites that produced and stored weapons, notably missiles and drones. “These facilities were used in Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” it said. A Houthi coastal radar site and seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs were destroyed over the Red Sea, Centcom added.

The strikes are a part of the U.S. military’s effort “to degrade Iran-backed Houthi efforts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region,” Central Command said.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s fight against the militant group “is only getting started” as it struck back at the group for its drone and missile attacks, signaling a potential lengthy campaign that would take its spiraling war far from Israel’s borders. An Israeli strike hit the international airport in Sanaa on Thursday, just as World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was about to board a flight there - prompting U.N. chief António Guterres to call on Israel and militants in Yemen to cease their military actions and use restraint.

The Houthi movement, which controls parts of Yemen and is backed by Iran, was once considered by Israel’s security establishment to be a more manageable threat than Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon. The group attacked Israel soon after the Hamas-led assault on Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023.

Since then, the Houthis have fired on or intercepted commercial and naval vessels transiting the Red Sea. In recent weeks, they have also stepped up their attacks on Israel, sending missiles flying toward Israeli cities. Most of the missiles were intercepted, but they forced millions of people to rush to bomb shelters on a near-nightly basis.

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Here’s what else to know

-U.S. officials met with Syria’s interim authorities to discuss the need to ensure an “inclusive political process” and ascertain the fate of U.S. citizens missing in Syria, the U.S. Embassy in Damascus wrote on X. Washington confirmed its first direct contact with the Islamist rebels who overthrew President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, and senior U.S. diplomats later held their first formal talks with Syria’s de facto leader, Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham chief Ahmed al-Sharaa.

-Eighty percent of households in Gaza have at least one child going without food, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinian refugees, said Monday.

-The U.N. Security Council met Monday for an emergency session to discuss threats posed by Houthi militants in Yemen, including strikes on Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the movement’s “incessant missile and drone attacks at Israeli citizens” and called on countries to list it as a terrorist group. The United States designated it as such early this year.

-The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, said Monday that 800,000 people have returned to their homes in Lebanon since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was announced. However, over 160,000 people remain displaced, OCHA added.