Sanaa, March 19 (IANS) Yemen’s Houthi group said Wednesday that it has targetted the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea for the fourth time in the past 72 hours.
In a statement aired by the group’s al-Masirah TV, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the operation was conducted with cruise missiles and drones, claiming it had succeeded in thwarting a “hostile US air attack.”
Sarea also vowed in the statement that the group would continue attacks on Israel until “the brutal aggression against Gaza ceases,” referring to Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza since early Tuesday, which has killed more than 400 people.
The tension between the Houthis and the US military escalated as the United States launched new airstrikes on Yemen on Saturday after the Houthi group threatened last week to resume attacks on Israeli targets until humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza.
According to al-Masirah TV, the US military conducted fresh strikes on Yemen’s northern province of Saada and the port city of Hodeidah on Tuesday night, following a Houthi missile attack on Israel’s Nevatim Air Base earlier in the day, Xinhua news agency reported. So far, no casualties were reported from either side.
The incident came after the Houthi group said earlier in the day that it “targetted the Nevatim Air Base (in Israel) with a ‘Palestine-2’ hypersonic missile, which successfully achieved its goal.”
The Israeli military said in a statement that the missile was “intercepted by the IAF (Israeli Air Force) before crossing into Israeli territory.”
The United States launched new airstrikes on Yemen on Saturday after US President Donald Trump vowed to continue attacks until the Houthis end attacks on Red Sea shipping.
Last week, the Houthi group said it would resume attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Bab al-Mandab Strait until crossings into Gaza are reopened and humanitarian aid is allowed in.
On Tuesday, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi threatened in a televised speech aired by al-Masirah to “resume escalation at its highest levels and will do everything we can against” Israel if the renewed Israeli assault on Gaza does not stop.
–IANS
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