US and UK warplanes launched several airstrikes on Hodeidah International Airport in western Yemen in the overnight and early Friday hours. "US–British aircraft targeted Hodeidah International Airport with three raids," a security source told Yemen’s SABA news agency.
The renewed attacks came after several prior US–UK attacks on Yemen Thursday. "American and British fighter jets launched five raids on various Ansarallah sites in the Ras Issa area, which includes an oil berth affiliated with the port of Al-Salif, north of Hodeidah," a local source in the western Hodeidah province told Sputnik Thursday.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said shortly after midnight on Thursday that it destroyed five uncrewed vessels and three drones belonging to the Houthis in the Red Sea and in "a Houthi controlled area of Yemen."
Yemen has imposed a naval blockade on all ships delivering goods to Israeli ports in the Red Sea, Arab Sea, Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean – in support of Palestinians in Gaza. It also recently expanded its campaign to include joint operations with the Iraqi resistance.
Ansarallah and the Armed Forces of Yemen’s Sanaa government, which are merged with one another, have also been striking US and British warships in response to a violent and acampaign of airstrikes launched by Washington and London against Yemen in January.
Ansarallah leader Abdel al-Malik al-Houthi said in a speech on Thursday that 57 people have been killed and 87 wounded in 570 airstrikes carried out by the US and UK against Yemen since the start of the western campaign.
The Yemeni army has vowed not to stop its operations until the war in Gaza comes to an end. US and UK warplanes had also carried out intense airstrikes targeting several Yemeni provinces on May 30, destroying civilian infrastructure, killing 16 people, and injuring 41 more.
Yemen responded by targeting Washington’s USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea. The renowned aircraft carrier was allegedly struck by Yemeni forces two more times in the days that followed.
The western campaign has done nothing to deter the Yemenis. US and EU maritime task forces have failed to progress in preventing attacks on ships, which have strained both the Israeli economy and international shipping as a whole.