The U.S. military said it conducted multiple precision strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday and Tuesday, but a spokesman for the terrorist group said it will continue to defend itself.
The Houthis have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year to enforce a naval blockade on Israel, claiming they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians affected by Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas, another Iranian terror proxy. U.S. warships providing cover for the merchant vessels have also come under fire.
U.S. Central Command said Tuesday in a news release the targets in Sana'a, Yemen's capital, and coastal locations within Houthi-controlled territory were used in attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
"On Dec. 30 and 31, U.S. Navy ships and aircraft targeted a Houthi command and control facility and advanced conventional weapon production and storage facilities that included missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles," CENTCOM said. "In addition, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aircraft destroyed a Houthi coastal radar site and seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs over the Red Sea."
CENTCOM added there were no injuries to U.S. personnel or damage to equipment. A video posted on X by CENTCOM, which directs U.S. military combat forces in the Middle East, showed U.S. fighter jets launching at night from an aircraft carrier. It also showed the daytime launch of two missiles from an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that typically carries Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Mohammed Abdulsalam, a senior Houthi official, condemned "American aggression on Yemen," calling it a "blatant violation of an independent country's sovereignty and blunt support for Israel," according to The New York Times.
Houthi spokesman Nasruddin Amer vowed his group would continue "its operations in support of Gaza whatever the situation."
"We will confront any escalation by escalating ourselves," he told the Times in a text message. "The best solution is to stop the aggression on Gaza."
On Monday night, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at central Israel that was intercepted before entering Israeli airspace, the Times of Israel reported. Shrapnel from the intercept landed in Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem but caused no injuries or damage. The missile was shot down with the Arrow long-range missile defense system, which is designed to take out ballistic missiles while they are outside the Earth's atmosphere.
Israel has carried out several waves of airstrikes against Houthi infrastructure in Yemen in recent days amid increasingly hostile threats from the terror group's leaders, according to the Times of Israel.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.