The United States executed an additional retaliative airstrike against Houthi insurgents in Yemen on Friday, following substantial airstrikes the day before, as stated by U.S. Central Command.
This airstrike pinpointed a Houthi radar site, directly responding to an earlier anti-ship launch at a vessel in the Gulf of Aden that landed harmlessly in the water.
“At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen,” CENTCOM articulated in a statement post-airstrike.
“The USS Carney (DDG 64) conducted this strike using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, following a specific military target associated with actions taken on Jan. 12 aimed at impairing the Houthi’s capacity to assault maritime vessels, including commercial vessels,” it added.
The missed missile attack on Friday marks the 28th Houthi assault on commercial shipping using drones and missiles since mid-November.
On Thursday night, the U.S. targeted 28 Houthi locations in Yemen linked to drone and missile assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
U.S. officials disclosed that the sites were hit by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched by U.S. Navy destroyers, British warplanes, and U.S. Navy fighter aircraft from the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier.
Houthi officials had vowed to retaliate against the U.S. following Thursday’s strikes.
President Joe Biden, addressing reporters on Friday during a Pennsylvania trip, hailed the strikes as a “success” and affirmed the U.S. would persist in responding to the Houthis’ “outrageous behavior.”
In a Thursday statement, Biden cautioned the Houthis, asserting he would “not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”
U.S. officials on Friday expressed their belief that the Houthis’ ability to launch large-scale attacks had been weakened, though assessments of Thursday’s strike were still ongoing.
Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, informed reporters that the strikes have hampered the Houthis’ capability to execute a major attack, such as the one attempted on Tuesday.
“I know we have degraded capability,” Sims stated. “I don’t believe that they would be able to execute the same way they did the other day,” referring to Tuesday’s Houthi barrage of 21 missiles and drones.
“I would hope that they don’t respond,” he added, expressing hope that the Houthis would recognize the futility of retaliating.
Sims asserted that any counterattacks would have detrimental effects on the region.
“It does not simply affect things that are directly tied to the Houthis,” he mentioned. “But it affects many of their partners, quite honestly, or many of the folks that they are working with, so I would hope that they don’t retaliate.”
Anticipated civilian casualties from Thursday night’s strikes are expected to be minimal, given that the majority of the targeted locations were in rural areas, including missile launchers in mountainous or sparsely populated regions.
“This was not necessarily about casualties, as much as it was about degrading capability,” stated Sims.
“This was solely designed to get after the capability that is impeding international freedom of navigation and international waters, and that’s where we feel pretty confident we did good work on that,” he concluded.