2024-01-19 22:58:41
(CNN)– The US Central Command (Centcom) announced on Friday that it had carried out strikes once morest 3 Houthi anti-ship missiles that were “targeting the southern Red Sea, and were ready to be launched.”
Centcom said, via the “X” platform (formerly Twitter): “As part of ongoing efforts to protect freedom of navigation and prevent attacks on naval vessels, US Navy ships are present in the Red Sea.”
She added: “At approximately 6:45 pm Sana’a time, Friday, US Central Command forces carried out strikes once morest 3 Houthi anti-ship missiles that were targeting the southern Red Sea and were ready for launch.”
She continued: “US forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen and determined that they represented an imminent threat to commercial ships and US Navy ships in the region, and US forces subsequently bombed and destroyed the missiles in self-defense.”
Central Command confirmed that this measure “will make international waters safe for US naval and commercial ships.”
The US military bombed more Houthi anti-ship missiles in Yemen on Friday, according to a US official, marking the sixth time in the past 10 days that the United States has targeted the Iran-backed rebel group.
This comes a day following the United States used F/A-18 fighter jets to strike two Houthi anti-ship missiles, as part of a growing campaign to try to disrupt the armed group’s ability to launch missiles and drones once morest international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The increased pace of strikes, which US officials say are a defensive response to Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, has raised questions regarding the overall US strategy aimed at deterring the militants and weakening their capabilities.
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