DUBAI: The United States military has unleashed a wave of attacks targeting radar sites operated by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over their attacks on shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor, officials said Saturday, following one merchant sailor went missing after an earlier Houthi attack on a vessel.
The assaults come as the US Navy faces the most intense combat its seen since World War II in attempting to counter the Houthi campaign — attacks the rebels say are meant to stop the Hamas- Israel war in Gaza.
The military’s Central Command stated that US strikes destroyed 7 radars within Houthi-controlled areas but did not elaborate on how the sites were destroyed. Central Command said that these radars allow the Houthis to target maritime ships and endanger commercial shipping. It claimed that the US separately destroyed two bomb-laden drone boats in the Red Sea. The Houthis did not acknowledge the attacks, nor any military losses, western media reported.
Meanwhile, Central Command stated that one commercial sailor from the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk cargo carrier Tutor remained missing following an attack Wednesday by the Houthis that used a bomb-carrying drone boat to strike the ship. It added that the crew abandoned vessel and were rescued by USS Philippine Sea and partner troops.
The Houthis have launched over fifty attacks on shipping, killed around 3 sailors, seized one ship and sunk another since November the US Maritime Administration said. A US-led strike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of assaults May 30 killing around sixteen people and wounding 42 others, Houthis say.
The war in Gaza has killed over 37,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials said, while hundreds of others have been killed in Israeli operations in the occupied West Bank.
